Bridges
by Palladius
Summary: Cast into a universe he thought only existed behind a screen, Ivan joins the crew of the Normandy as they pursue Saren and the Geth across the galaxy. The catch: bridges can be crossed both ways. A self insert and slight alternate universe. Rated M for graphic violence and sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

The metal detector started whining and I hit the power switch, irritated by the incessant clicking noise it produced. Probably just another stupid lost paperclip or something. I can't believe Martin. Come treasure hunting, he said. It'll be fun, he said. Yeah, sure thing, mate. I'll come and freeze my bollocks off in a cornfield with a metal detector all day while passers by look at me like I need to be sectioned. Glad you asked.

Ah, I do him a disservice. Martin's an alright guy, but more than that, he's pretty much my only friend, which is admittedly more his fault than mine. On my first day we had been lab partners in Chemistry, effortlessly synthesising simple organic molecules and shooting the breeze while everyone else blew up their conical flasks and gave us the evils. By the time lunch came around, I liked the guy too much to jump ship when it became apparent that associating with him was bad for your popularity. We were pretty tight, me and Martin. Contrary to the popular image of the school nerds, we kept ourselves in shape with weights and rock climbing (my idea) combined with archery and fencing (his idea). Turns out double-teaming your way to gold and silver at the National Youth Fencing Championships would be considered cool if anybody but me and Martin did it.

In order to stave off the social vultures we cultivated a false reputation as a pair of unstable psychopaths. The charade was fun most of the time, but occasionally one of the teachers caught wind of our 'antics' and tried to send us off to the School Counsellor, a middle aged Scottish bloke nicknamed Aberdeen Angus. He was a great guy, Aberdeen. Unlike pretty much everyone else in the teaching staff, he understood what high school was like, and he understood exactly what we were up to. He found it uproariously funny when we regaled him with stories of scaring the living shits out of the rugby team. He wasn't a surrogate father or anything wishy washy like that, he was just a great counsellor.

Come to think of it, my relationship with Martin has come to pretty much define who we both are. When I first met Martin I was a loner, the Russian kid who barely spoke English and came with a boatload of daddy issues, and he was a nervous wreck, unable to do anything but hang his head as life walked all over him. We taught each other to fight by watching his entire collection of martial arts movies and trying out moves on each other. We also taught each other first aid trying to stick ourselves back together after teaching each other to fight. He practically carried me through Physics, as I somehow managed to land him an A* in Biology. I taught him how to play the piano and the guitar, while he taught me the harp, of all things. So really, I suppose that I could put up with a few idiosyncrasies, such as treasure-hunting in a cornfield during my university summer holidays. Oh yeah. We're at university now, but we both still live at home at 24 years of age. Lucky us. Although I pretty much live on my own with my mother gone most of the time.

Forcing a smile onto my face I call him over.

"I got something!"

He bounds over, all restless and enthusiastic. I point vaguely at the floor.

"Just here."

He goes to town with the trowel, displacing a couple of corn stalks as he hacks at the ground until his trowel hits something with a solid clunk. Excited beyond belief, he scrabbles with bare hands until he has unearthed a small box with strange symbols on it.

"The hell is this?"

He prises open the box to reveal what looks like two pendants. Each one consists of a small, diamond shaped shard of a black crystal I don't recognise, with thin silvery white strips of metal spiralling around them until they reach the peak of the crystal, where they link with a silvery chain that looks like it is meant to hang around the neck. I pick up one of the pendants, admiring it as the light glints off the silver, seeming to collect at the tip of the shard wherever it goes. Eventually Martin says something, but I'm not listening to him as I slowly put the pendant around my neck. It feels ... right somehow. I can't explain it, like the pendant was a part of me that I hadn't even known I was missing. I hand the other one to Martin.

"Try it on."

After a moment's pause, he slipped it around his neck.

"Wow. It feels ... I dunno ... Like it's supposed to be there, you know?"

I smile.

"Yeah man. I know."

"This is awesome."

We high five.

"Hey, you want to come round mine? My mum's in Moscow again."

"Yeah, sure. How long will she be there?"

"Until the end of the month."

Martin grins. His family is, shall we say, suboptimal, so whenever my mother is abroad (i.e. 75% of the time) he spends most of his time round my house, getting away from his overbearing father, his disengaged mother and his obnoxious siblings. We sit around, play our various musical instruments, eat unhealthily, work out to assuage the guilt stemming from the unhealthy eating, play PC games and laugh for hours. Honestly, the amount of time we spend together is approaching bromance levels.

As we trudge along the path back to my place, strange pendants around our necks, I start to feel a throbbing behind my eyes.

"Ah shit. I think I'm getting a headache."

"Same here. Let's get back to yours and slug back some aspirin."

By the time we reach my house the headache is approaching a full blown migraine, and judging by Martin's pained expression, his is approaching the same magnitude. I knock back three aspirins as soon as I get to the medicine cupboard before sliding the pill box and the glass of water to Martin, who takes the same. I manage to haul myself over to the living room, collapsing on the sofa. Even the tiniest sounds send daggers shooting through my brain and stars burst behind my eyes every time I move my head. Martin lies on the floor about six metres away, clutching his head and moaning softly. The aspirin seems to be having little effect - I guess our only option is to ride this one out.

The pressure won't stop building in my head. It feels like there's something trying to force its way through my skull, displacing my brain in the process. Suddenly a jolt of lightening shoots through my body and I tense up, muscles screaming in protest as I start to convulse wildly. I have to admit, at this point in time I'm scared, more scared than I have ever been in my life. My limbs are spasming of their own accord and my head feels set to explode. Then all of a sudden it's over.

When I realise I'm not dead I tentatively open one eye. I am confronted with a very close view of the ceiling. Huh. I open the other eye, look around a bit. So I'm somehow lying on the ceiling. That's ... unexpected. Almost as if it had just noticed me, gravity kicks in again, sending me plummeting to the sofa. I land with an oof sound and peer around just in time to see Martin reintroduce himself to the carpet with a resounding thump.

"Martin? Mate, you okay?"

"The fuck just happened?"

I try to sit up and find that I have done some badnesses to my ribcage as I lever myself into the vertical, subconsciously switching to Russian as I unleash a torrent if foul language. Martin, who has been around me long enough to pick up quite a bit of Russian, joins in as he clutches at his shoulder.

"I have no idea what the hell that was."

I reach over for a glass of water on the coffee table. It glows blue momentarily and zips into my hand. Thirst forgotten, I stare at the glass. Then I put it down and reach for it again. Once again, the same blue aura and the same movement of the glass. Martin watches with fascination, his glasses seemingly forgotten as he stares avidly at my telekinetic back and forth with the glass. He reaches out a hand and the glass moves towards him. Before it can reach his hand however he pushes it back away, continuing to bandy it back and forth until with a flick of his wrist he sends it hurtling towards the heavens. However the ceiling got in the way and so the glass promptly shattered, shards flying everywhere and water splashing downwards. Without thinking I raise a hand and the whole scene stops, blue energy flickering across the glass and its contents as they freeze in position. Martin looks at me.

"Holy shit, man. We're friggin superheroes!"

I shake my head as the glass and water tinkle to the ground, ignored by both of us as we lock gazes.

"No mate. We're cattle-fucking biotics."

Neither of us saw that one coming.

"Well, I intend to celebrate our newfound magic powers by getting absolutely hazed. Booze is under the bed in Mum's room. I'll pick the lock."

Martin follows me up the stairs, flapping his mouthparts a mile a minute as he nervously fiddles with his pendant.

"What? You don't even drink. And why now? We should be trying to figure out what's going on!"

I turn to him, raising a hand.

"Look Martin. Contrary to popular belief I don't really know the protocol for discovering you have magical powers. So I have two options. Freak out or get drunk. If it's all the same to you, I pick two."

"Okay, okay. Drinking, yeah. But do you think it has something to do with the pendants?"

I tune him out as I find the large stash of wine hidden under the bed. I pull out two bottles at random and hand one of them to Martin, decorking the other with my teeth before upending it down my neck. Martin reluctantly takes a sip, then grimaces and starts chugging away too. Before long we have polished off the bottles. Martin almost looks disappointed.

"There more?"

I pull out two more bottles.

"There's always more."

###

Agh, my fucking head. My cattle-fucking head. Goddamn wine.

I slowly push myself into a sitting position, the acrid scent of vomit assailing my long suffering nostrils as I try to make out my surroundings. Some sort of hallway with white walls only interrupted by a nasty looking puke splatter a ways away from my position. Martin is passed out slap bang in the middle of said puddle of puke. Oh, he's not going to be happy. And what is ... HOLY CATTLE FUCKING FUCK ON A FUCK STICK! That's a cattle-fucking Keeper! I'd recognise the aphid head anywhere. The only reason my brain doesn't start dribbling out of my nose is because memory of me and Martin's little biotic display earlier returns to me. Okay, so Mass Effect. Of all the games to get stuck in, this isn't so bad. Wait ... Maybe I'm dreaming. That notion is dispelled when in my semi-inebriated state I manage to biotically charge my pinch, resulting in another venomous utterance in the mother tongue as I rub the rapidly bruising flesh.

A Turian in C-sec armour rounds the corner and sees the two of us.

"What in the spirits is going on here?"

I manage to weakly grin.

"Uh ... Hi Officer. I was just trying to recall how I got here."

The Turian grinned and shook his head. Surprising that I'm not freaking out over the goddamn Turian, but hey. I guess I'm plumb out of freak-out.

"Uh ... We didn't cause any damage, did we?"

"Thousands of people get drunk on the Citadel every night."

"Uh, okay, but not many of them started getting drunk on Earth."

The Turian does what appears to be a triple take.

"Well, I think you boys have just broken the record when it comes to bar crawls."

"Is there somewhere I can clean up my friend?"

The Turian nods.

"I'll take the two of you back to the C-sec academy. You can use the showers and change your clothes there." He looks pointedly at our 2012 fashion statements. "I assume you can remember your names?"

"I'm Ivan Borodyov. That's Martin Blackwood."

"I'm Officer Vakarian. Garrus Vakarian."

Suddenly my day just got a whole lot more awesome.

Turns out that from somewhere both me and the semi-conscious Martin sprawled in the back of the C-sec cruiser Garrus has us in have got Omnitools and one hell of a lot of credits from somewhere. I sincerely hope they're not stolen. That would be suboptimal.

"So ... Where are you boys from?"

"Earth. Like I said, it appears we somehow bar-crawled all the way to the Citadel. I'm no expert on travel arrangements but I don't see how that's possible."

The Turian nods.

"Right. You must have been wasted for a while then."

I look out the window at the Presidium whizzing by below. I can see Asari, Salarians, Turians, Humans, Hanar, Elcor, Volus and even the odd Krogan or Quarian. I briefly wonder if one of them is Tali or Wrex, or even maybe Shepard himself. Or herself. I chuckle to myself.

"It's funny. I always dreamed of seeing this place for real. The games and the vids don't really do it justice. But of all the ways I could have got here, I was not expecting it to involve alcohol in such amounts."

I hear a mumbling from the back seat.

"Ivan, I had the weirdest dream. I dreamed we found magical necklaces that gave us superpowers and then we drank lots of tasty tasty wine and holy shit there's a motherfucking TURIAN!"

Garrus gave a friendly wave.

"Officer Garrus Vakarian at your service."

"Uh huh."

I lean back and pat him on the shoulder.

"Look man, we're on the Citadel. Just go with it until we figure out exactly how we got here, okay?"

He nods and his hand steals to the pendant he somehow still has. I catch his eye and nod slowly. Although we can't be certain, there has to be a link between the pendants and the crazy turn of events that somehow wound up with us on the goddamned Citadel, of all places.

Once we're back at the C-sec Academy, Garrus takes us into a locker room where I hose Martin off and he brings us some spare C-sec uniforms to wear. Outside we can hear an assemblage of officers jeering at a news channel that was reporting on a scandal in which a C-sec officer paid three Asari for group sex in his patrol car. In true tabloid style, the headline was 'C-SEX SCANDAL'. Some things never change.

The crowd suddenly falls silent and I strain my ears to catch two words.

Eden Prime.

Hangover forgotten, I barge my way through the crowd to the front, staring at the images on the screen. The game really doesn't do the attack justice. The Husks, all of which looked the same in the game, still bear fragments of hair and clothes and faces, things that betray that they aren't just more enemies to fight, they are real, living, breathing people that have been murdered and corrupted for the needs of the Reapers. Some of the sights and sounds make me feel sick but at the same time keep me riveted to the screen. The footage of the Geth is a little disturbing too. In the game they move like any other enemy, but in real life their movements are strange and alien, using both knee joints to run at speeds no unaugmented human could hope to match, their assault rifle fire deadly accurate even when sprinting at full tilt and their movements somehow fluid yet jerky at the same time, an oxymoronic mode of motion that made it patently obvious to anyone watching that they are not a creation of evolution. The images on the screen of Sovereign descending from the heavens are equally terrifying. I'm not even going to describe the sheer presence it has, even just on a screen. Nothing I could say would do it justice.

I become dimly aware of Martin standing next to me and I squeeze his shoulder as he stands there, dumbstruck.

"Hey Martin. Come on, let's figure out a way to get back to our place, okay?"

He shakes his head.

"I want to meet her first."

By her I know exactly who he's talking about. Tali. I resist the urge to facepalm. Martin has always been a paid up member of the Tali Fan Legion. He always romances her, has her on his squad, the works. I'm somehow not surprised he wants to meet her.

"Alright, we'll meet her. But then we figure out how to be gone."

"Fine by me. Let's roll."

This time I do facepalm.

###

So we ran the length of the Citadel, looking for this goddamn Quarian and passing the time by practising biotics. We take the liberty of using some of the credits we somehow have to purchase some custom-designed weapons and armour. Apparently our order will be ready in three days - even using nanofoundries, a custom designed suit of armour takes a while. We don't really expect to use them - it's just a memento for when we get home. We actually bought three sets of armour - one light, one medium and one heavy. Martin came up with a killer design that it turns out he borrowed from one of his other favourite games, Tribes Ascend. According to him, the armour suits are faithful replicas of Diamond Sword armour from the game. That means nothing to me, but I have to admit the designs are pretty sexy, with the base layer a very deep blue-grey, almost black, with ornate patterning in gold. Each suit also comes with a sweet-looking sword attached to the back by a magnetic strip. But enough about our armour. Back to where we are now, hiding at the point where Tali meets the three assassins sent by Fist. We see them skulking around and then Tali herself appears. Even through the suit I can see what Martin sees in her - namely, her killer T&A. We watch silently, save for Martin's excited quivering. We can hear her lines from the game from our little spot. Then the sound of her slapping away the Turian's hand, and moments later the pop of her grenade as she dives for cover. Shooting starts up. I glance over at the alley. Shepard isn't showing up. Oh shit. Shit shit shit. Martin tugs my arm.

"We have to do something!"

"Do what?" I hiss back. "We've got no guns!"

"We're biotics, remember?"

Before I can protest, he steps out, throwing a Singularity that traps one of the Salarians and following up with a Warp. I join the fray, picking up the other Salarian and smashing him head first into the ground. What happens next seems to be in slow motion. Shepard crests the hill, sees the biotic confrontation. Tali steps out of cover and finishes off the second Salarian with a shotgun blast. The Turian raises his Blood Pack Executioner pistol and levels it at Tali, who is trying to draw a bead on the first Salarian. As he squeezes the trigger Martin leaps in front of the gun, despite the fact that his barrier is down.

And just like that, Martin takes a bullet for Tali.

The force of the weapon's impact sends him flying across the room, knocking into a wall and then landing at the feet of Shepard's group. A red haze descends over my vision as dark energy coruscates through my body. The Turian is bodily picked up into the air, surrounded by a nimbus of my biotic power. He starts to scream, a grating, flanging shriek of agony as I slowly pull him apart, tearing his limbs into shreds, slashes opening across his body, the dark energy starting to colour with Turian blood. I pour more and more of my hatred into the energy field until all that is left is a cluster of organs held together by tubes that still managed to scream. Then even those started to liquefy under my furious assault until all that was left was a lumpy blue soup. I flung it away from me, painting the floor, walls and ceiling of the alleyway a vivid blue as what used to be a Turian assassin was distributed down the hall. Then I turned to Martin.

I dropped to my knees by his side, holding his hand, feeling him weaken as his life flowed out through the fist-sized hole in his chest. Through tear-stained eyes I was dimly aware of someone else kneeling on his other side. He looked up at me and spoke, each word rattling in his chest.

"Ivan ... This is ... Don't lose yourself ... I know you. Revenge ... but don't lose your ... your ..."

His hand wanders to the pendant, seemingly unharmed, and he pulls it off, handing it to me.

"Take ..."

He drew in a shuddering breath and turned to the other person.

"Keelah se'lai ..."

I looked up at them, the Human, the Turian and the Krogan, all standing with a look of grim sadness on their faces, the Quarian clutching my best friend's hand, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

"Do something! You have medigel, or get a doctor, or, or ..."

Garrus grimly shook his head.

My howl of grief echoed down the passageway.

A/N: A heavy start for this fic. Please review and follow if you want more. Also please check out my other fics, Awake and Gethsemane. And if anyone asks, yes, I do call people cattle-fuckers. All the cattle-fucking time.


	2. Chapter 2

I feel numb as I stand up, the world spinning just out of reach. Any minute now Martin's going to stand up with that goofy grin on his face, or he's going to rub his head and start Russian-swearing, or ... or ...

I hear a faint voice beside me.

"Though the galaxy turns on and time cannot be reversed, we pause and remember ..."

"Martin Blackwood." I manage to force out the name.

"Martin Blackwood, who gave his life protecting a stranger from harm. Go in peace to your ancestors, so you may guide us as they once guided you, Martin Blackwood. Keelah se'lai."

Then the Quarian stands and moves away, leaving me alone with the body of my best and only friend. I feel empty. Used up. But then I look back at the new blue colour scheme of the alleyway and something inside me hardens. That Turian assassin - Saren's going to share his fate.

I look up at Shepard. This Shepard is female, and undoubtedly beautiful, with platinum blonde hair, azure eyes, lightly tanned skin and curves in all the right places. I didn't really care what she looked like at the moment. All I cared about was that she was a route for my revenge.

"I'm coming with you, Shepard. You're going after the one responsible for this."

She nodded.

"Then I'm coming with you. I'll have my weapons and armour delivered to your ship."

She blinked twice.

"Bay D24."

I pull an incendiary grenade off her belt. Before she can protest I lay it on Martin's chest and wrap his hands around it.

"You see, mate? A warrior's funeral. Like you always said."

I take five paces back and thumb the detonator, not looking back as the fire consumes the body of my only friend.

I open my Omnitool and send a message to the owner of the arms shop where we're getting our armour done. No. Where I'm getting my armour done.

Upon completion deliver Blackwood's order to the ship in bay D24.

I didn't trust myself to send an audio or video message without breaking down in the middle of it.

Udina really is a pompous prick. Safe to say I've had a fairly shit day so far and listening to that son of a bitch whinge at Shepard was driving me round the bend. I step away for a second, wanting to escape the rant. I knew what was coming. Tali would shut him up with her recording of Saren and Benezia, then the hunt proper begins.

I see a shadow fall over me as someone comes to lean on the balcony rails next to me. I turn to find myself staring into the blood red eyes of Urdnot Wrex.

"Your friend died a warrior's death. If he were Krogan his clan would sing his praises."

Somehow the simple words bring comfort to my inner turmoil. Wrex is right. Martin died well, for what it's worth. But Wrex continues.

"And you. That biotic display?"

When I speak it comes out in a grating, grinding tone, far different from my usual soft voice.

"Payback. The first of many."

The Krogan Battlemaster nodded sagely.

"I expected nothing less."

We stand in silence for a while. Eventually Shepard comes to stand on my other side.

"Wrex, head back to the Normandy. Alliance docks, bay D24."

Wrex nods sharply and moves out of the door, his movements far quieter than I was expecting. Shepard looks at me, her beautiful blue eyes dancing with concern and sadness.

"Are you going to be okay, Ivan?"

I try a wan smile.

"Not for a while, but thanks for asking, Commander."

She briefly rests her hand on my shoulder.

"It's just Shepard to crew. Report to the Normandy, bay D24. I need to take Tali to the Council chambers to present this evidence. Go with Garrus."

I numbly follow the Turian into the elevator, which starts moving. Unlike in the game, it takes all of ten seconds to deposit us in the Alliance docks. Also unlike the game, we have a ways to walk to get to the correct bay. Garrus looks at me out of the corner of his eye.

"So how come you two were in that alleyway?"

I laugh humourlessly.

"That was Martin's fault. He wanted to meet ... a Quarian before we left. He'd always been so interested in them."

"Tell me about him."

After a short hesitation I start to spill. Everything about Martin, sometimes tweaked slightly to fit in with the MEverse. It felt liberating, just talking about him. Garrus listened, occasionally asking a question, as I told him about meeting in Chemistry, about learning to fight and pissing around with Aberdeen Angus. By the time I reached the Normandy I was feeling much better.

The Normandy. Garrus and I stood and dumbly stared. Just as the game couldn't do the menace of Sovereign justice, so too it couldn't hope to replicate the beauty and the deadly elegance of the Normandy. We continue to stare until an Elcor pushes past us, carrying an enormous package on its back, and stomps right up to the airlock.

"Informatively: Delivery for Blackwood."

I jog up to the airlock.

"Yes, that's for me. Just leave it here, I'll take it."

"Courteously: Have a nice day."

I try to pick up the package but it obstinately refuses to budge, so I resort to biotically floating it into the ship. Garrus follows me, bemused, as I haul the case through the Normandy and down to the cargo area.

When I get there, I am immediately confronted with Kaidan's open, smiling face.

"Hey. You must be Ivan. Commander Shepard told me to show you to your quarters."

I about-face and follow him back into the elevator, still biotically carrying the box behind me.

"What's in the box?"

"Weapons and armour."

I think back to Martin excitedly showing me the design. Damnit! I wonder how long it will be before I'm not reminded of him by every little thing. Probably a long time in the future.

Kaidan leads me across the crew deck to one of the staircases leading up to the CIC. Except there is no staircase on the right hand side. Instead there is a door that leads to a new area I don't recognise. Kaidan leads me through the door.

"Officer's Cabins. Since the Normandy has more cabins than officers, the Commander ordered we give them to the ground team."

I look around the cabin he opens for me. Double bed, terminal and desk, bathroom and a nice set of lockers for storing my kit. I turn to him and nod.

"Thanks ..."

"Lieutenant Alenko."

Playing dumb will quickly become tiresome, I think. Kaidan leaves and I unpack my customised gear into the lockers before sitting down at the terminal. After a couple of minutes figuring out the OS I pull up some personnel files. Firstly all the ground team plus Joker, Chakwas and Adams, just familiarising myself with their contents so that I know a bit more about them. The last personnel file I check is Shepard herself. Commander Francesca Shepard, born April 11, 2154 on the planet Mindoir to a Michael and Alice Shepard. At the age of 14, her entire village was killed by Batarian slavers in retaliation for an Alliance raid on a slave pen. She joined the Alliance Marines at age 18 and specialised as an Adept, but took an extra course in assault rifles in order to carry some extra firepower on the battlefield. Her unit was wiped out by Thresher Maws on Akuze, with her the sole survivor. At the time of the Skyllian Blitz she was briefly captured by Batarian pirates before being freed in a Turian raid, and then she led a squad in the assault on Torfan that was wiped out when the CO ordered her to lead them deep into the base to destroy a power junction, despite the fact that the Batarians were offering to surrender. Seems like she had it rough. Colonist, Sole Survivor, then one of the soldiers, not the commander, in the assault on Torfan. If any of that had happened to me I'd be a nervous wreck. And now she's the first human Spectre.

I'm interrupted from my musings by a quiet knock on the door. Minimising the window, I call out.

"It's open."

The door slides open and Shepard herself steps through. Damn, she's hot. She glances around the room before smiling at me.

"Hey. You mind if I come in?"

"Not at all."

She perches on the edge of my bed. She's wearing her Alliance uniform trousers and a black T-shirt with the logo of some band on it, and her hair is pulled into a ponytail that hangs down her back, a couple of locks falling down around her face.

"How do you like the Normandy?"

I relax a bit when she doesn't immediately start pressing me about Martin. I'm dealing, but it won't go so well if I can't talk to anyone without them dragging up memories.

"She's a beautiful ship. Great crew, too."

"She certainly is. How are you settling in?"

"Alright, I guess. So I hear you're an Adept?"

She nods enthusiastically.

"Yeah. You're a biotic too, aren't you?"

"Yup. I think Tali and Garrus are feeling a bit outnumbered."

She laughs at that, a high, clear sound that somehow lifts my spirits.

"That they are. So, you have your own weapons and armour?"

I open the lockers. She gasps as she sees the three ornate armour sets.

"Oh my god. Those look amazing!" She peers at them. "Are those swords?"

I reach over the shoulder of the medium armour set and pull out the sword. It has a deep, blue-black blade with a gold handle and handguard. As she takes it, her hand brushes against mine and I feel a tingling sensation in my fingers for a moment.

"Me and Martin, we were fencing champions back in high school." I wait for the wave of sadness that always accompanies a memory of Martin. To my surprise it is diminished somewhat.

Shepard holds the blade up, then experimentally swings it a couple of times before handing it back to me.

"It's great and all, but do you have any guns?"

I hold up a pistol that resembles a black-shelled Carnifex with gold patterning, but with an extra long body section and two barrels, one above the other.

"This was a special deal at the armoury. Apparently they don't make them any more. It's an M-43 Assassin Mk.X. Accurate, and it packs one hell of a punch."

She holds up the pistol, sights down the barrel.

"It's heavy, and I should think it kicks like a mule."

I nod in agreement.

"Yeah. With this, you have to aim every shot separately."

I pull out the pistol's twin and hand it to her.

"It's yours, if you want it."

She looks like she's going to protest, but then she looks at the pair of pistols and shuts her mouth, taking one. Thank God she understands. I don't want to have to explain that the gun she is holding used to be Martin's.

"Got any other weapons?"

I shake my head.

"Nope. Just my pistol, my sword and my biotics. What about you?"

She sighs and flops back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Biotics and some crappy Alliance issue guns. Pistol and assault rifle. At least they gave me some decent medium armour."

I glance down at her and notice her right arm is covered in angry red marks, the texture of the skin rough and uneven. She follows my gaze to her arm and shifts it, blocking my view as she pushes herself up and heads over to the door.

"I should go."

As she leaves I call out after her.

"Nice talking to you, Cesca."

Almost as soon as the words are out I regret them. Cesca? Nobody uses Shepard's first name. She turns, and several expressions flash across her face, first confusion, then a slight frown and finally a shy smile.

"Nice talking to you too, Ivan."

Then she's gone. I try to process what just happened. It seems she doesn't mind me calling her Cesca. It's funny. When we were talking, it felt like it all fit somehow, like we instinctually got along with each other. Ah well. Time to explore the Normandy, I guess.

I change into one of the Alliance uniforms supplied in the lockers and explore the ship. Turns out that where the second stairway leading up to the CIC was in the game there is a door that leads off to a sensor suite and a damage control centre. My first port of call is to visit Joker in the cockpit. The pilot is sitting behind his console playing what looks like World of Warcraft, as evidenced by his very blue, very scantily clad Asari avatar releasing a volley of biotic powers on a giant scorpion. I wait until I am right behind him before speaking.

"You know, in real life good armour covers more of your body."

He quickly pauses and minimises the game.

"And you are ..."

"Name's Ivan. I'm on the ground team."

"Enchanté, monsieur. I'm Joker, responsible for hauling the ground team around the galaxy."

"Uh-huh. I maintain that the ground team is the most important asset of the Normandy."

He shakes his head vehemently.

"Hell no! Without the flight crew, your sorry ass would be stuck on the Citadel."

"Uh-huh. And without the ground team, there's no reason to even have a flight crew."

We banter for a good five minutes on the topic of ground team vs flight crew before I excuse myself to have a poke around the rest of the ship. The first person I come across is Kaidan, down in the crew deck. I'm feeling peckish, so I grab whatever passes for food around here before I sit down next to him.

"Hey, Lieutenant."

He glances up at me.

"Ivan."

An awkward silence ensues.

"So I hear you're biotic."

He nods and taps his temple.

"L2."

I pretend that I didn't know that and grimace.

"My condolences."

"Ah, you get used to the migraines."

Another awkward silence. I feel like the conversation is just refusing to flow like it did with Cesca and Joker. We eat in silence for a while.

"How are you with hand to hand, Lieutenant?"

He seems surprised by the question.

"I can handle myself in a brawl but I'm no expert. The Commander's the real close quarters pro and Chief Williams is pretty good too. Why?"

I shrug.

"Window shopping for sparring partners. I'll get out of your way now. Nice meeting you, Lieutenant."

He glances back at me.

"It's Kaidan."

Okay, so at least I'm on first name terms with him. This is a good sign.

I get up from the table and head down into the cargo bay. I can see Ash by the weapon bench, Wrex leaning against the wall and Garrus's legs sticking out from under the Mako. The first person I approach is Wrex. He grunts at me, then pointedly turns his head away. I take the hint and go over to greet Garrus. He was always one of my favourite characters in the games.

"Hey Garrus. Having fun?"

Garrus slides himself out from under the Mako.

"You could say. How about you? Settling in okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. What do you think of the Normandy?"

He looks around the cargo bay.

"She's a beautiful ship. And the cabins Shepard has provided are way nicer than anything on a Turian warship. She's got a strong spirit."

I nod in agreement.

"That she does. How are you getting along with the rest of the crew?"

He glances darkly at Ash and Wrex.

"I get the impression that neither of those two like me very much, and the XO is a bit of a dick. Other than that, everyone's been really friendly and accommodating. Just before you came down here I spent half an hour with Tali down in Engineering, discussing the Mako's internal systems, although to be honest I think she was busy ogling the drive core."

"Talking shop with a Quarian?"

"Talking ...?"

"Shop. It's a human expression, meaning to discuss engineering."

"Ah."

"So no 'suit rat'? Most people seem to have a dim opinion of Quarians."

Garrus shrugged and one of his mandibles twitched slightly inward.

"I prefer to keep an open mind. Which is more than I can say for that Gunnery Chief."

I scowl.

"Xenophobes piss me off."

He nodded.

"On that, we can agree."

There was a natural lapse in the conversation as Garrus stuck his head into the Mako's innards.

"Hey Ivan, can you hand me the 35 millimetre wrench?"

I pass the required wrench over to his outstretched hand. Looking at him in person, the three fingers, each one tipped with a wicked looking talon, are a little disconcerting but I push those concerns to the back of my mind. After waxing lyrical about my disdain for xenophobia the thought feels a little hypocritical.

"Catch you later, Garrus."

He mumbled a farewell as I walked over to Ashley.

"Chief Williams. I hear you're good with hand to hand."

She narrows her eyes at me. In the first couple of games she really didn't seem to have a jaw, but in real life she's quite pretty. It's not like she can compete with Cesca, but she certainly knows how to fill out a uniform.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Just looking for sparring partners. So what do you think of the new additions to the crew?"

She sucks in a breath.

"I don't trust them. You're alright, at least you have ten fingers, but Turians? Krogans? I don't trust them to have my back in a fight."

"Ah, two things. Firstly, the plural of Krogan is actually Krogan. They're like sheep. Well, grammatically speaking at least. And secondly, they're going into combat with you whether you like it or not. You should at least make the effort to get to know them. You know, for self preservational purposes."

She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Just think about it."

I walk away from her. She doesn't seem like one of those rabid Cerberus types but still the xenophobia is there. Maybe by the time this is done I can change her mind about aliens.

My final port of call is the Engineering section to meet Tali. When I get there I am surprised to find Cesca already there, leaning against a console as she chats animatedly with Tali. The Quarian is gesticulating at the drive core excitedly, and then they both laugh. Just seeing Tali ... It drags up memories of Martin, memories I thought I had suppressed. I'll talk to her later.

Without a word, I turn to head back to my cabin. I grab my pistol and set up some targets down in the cargo bay. Cesca was right when she said the thing kicks like a mule. I have to re-aim after every round. My aim isn't brilliant, but at least I'm hitting mid-range targets most of the time. After a while, I notice Cesca watching me and switch the safety on my pistol.

"Hey."

She smiles at me.

"Hey. Thought I might give this a try."

I move away from the firing spot and she takes it up, holding the Assassin pistol I gave her. She takes aim and fires, every shot passing clean through the head of the targets. Six rounds, and then she pops the heat sink, looking down at the gun with a confused expression.

"How come there are two thermal clips in the chamber?"

I point out a switch on the handle.

"Two barrels. Each one has its own heat sink. The top barrel is six rounds to a sink, the bottom barrel only fires once before you need to change the heat sink but it's got the oomph of a decent sniper rifle."

"Huh." She toggles the bottom barrel and fires. The report of the gun makes everyone in the room clap their hands over their ears as the recoil sends Cesca's gun hand flying upwards and backwards. The bullet blows through the target and through the armoured backstop behind it, embedding itself in the cargo bay door.

"Spirits!"

I turn to see Garrus staring dumbly at the two of us. Cesca rubs her shoulder and smiles sheepishly.

"Sorry, everyone."

She turns to me again.

"I really like this gun."

"Glad you like it. So, where are we headed?"

"We're going to Feros first. They're under attack from the Geth. We need to help them as soon as we can."

###

"Ground team, report to the briefing room."

As soon as the call comes out I am out of my cabin and up the stairs like a flash. First into the briefing room are me and Kaidan, to find Cesca already there. I should imagine everyone else is trying to cram themselves into the elevator. Kaidan nods at her as he takes a seat.

"Commander."

I give her a cheeky grin.

"Hey Shepard." We have agreed to use surnames around other crew members, although I think she really enjoys being just Cesca.

The rest of the crew file in and she nods at them as they take their seats. The Normandy conference room is like a hybrid of the SR1 and SR2 conference rooms, with the familiar chairs arranged around a rectangular glass table. Cesca taps a control and the hologram of a planet appears above the table, with some images of the Prothean megalopolis on the screen. One thing I have noticed is that unlike the horrible grainy images of the games, the picture quality on screens in 2183 is phenomenal, like looking at the scene through a window. I look at the images and the projection and itch to tell Cesca exactly what to expect on the planet. But I can't. All I can do is prepare accordingly. I tune out the briefing as I consider my options. Heavy armour is probably best against the Creepers, considering their claws and acid puke will probably penetrate right through my barrier. Biotics to keep them at bay, put them down with pistol fire and use my sword if they get too close. Sorted.

"We'll be arriving in seventy five minutes. Dismissed."

We file out of the briefing room and I immediately head down to my cabin to put my armour on when I feel a hand on my arm. I turn around to look into Ashley's narrowed eyes. The hostility in her eyes is quite evident and quite disturbing.

"You're in this for revenge. If we're going into combat together I need to trust the people covering my back."

I've just about had it with her bull.

"I'll cover you just as well as you cover Garrus and Tali."

She looks as if she's going to punch me for a second, then she stalks off, muttering to herself. I sincerely hope I don't have to go into combat with her covering my back. I get the distinct impression the only people she trusts are Kaidan and Cesca, and I don't have time to softly softly tiptoe around her trust issues. Hopefully after going into combat alongside us, her attitude will improve.

One hour later, the ground team is suited up and ready for combat. My heavy armour, with servos in every joint, is surprisingly easy to move in, although I'm not going to be doing any backflips in it. My pistol, despite being significantly larger than a regular pistol, looks tiny against my armoured form.

"Ivan."

I nod at Wrex.

"Looks like you're going to need a little more than that pyjak popper."

In response I flare my biotics.

"I guess we'll see."

The Battlemaster laughs and slaps me on the back, then turns his attention to the elevator as Cesca arrives in the cargo bay. I do a double take as I see her armour, coloured dark grey with the red and white arm stripes. I knew she was an Adept, but I certainly wasn't expecting an N7 Fury. Her hood is down and her mask is clipped to her belt as she gives one of her classic grins.

"I see everyone is here. Good. Back up to the airlock."

With a good deal of multilingual cursing, we manage to cram four Humans, a Turian, a Quarian and a Wrex into the elevator, before spilling out into the crew deck and stomping up the stairs to the CIC, passing through the galaxy map area and up to the airlock. I can't help but gain the impression that if this scene was in the games there would be some epic incidental music to go along with it. Nevertheless it feels great to be part of the team. I stop that line of thought before I can start wishing Martin was here. I know that pushing him out of my mind will only work for so long but the wounds are too fresh to try facing it at the moment.

We pile out of the airlock, weapons out, immediately taking up positions with intersecting fields of fire. Everyone seems to be pairing off so I stick close to Cesca, Kaidan and Ashley team up, Garrus and Tali go together and Wrex is a team all by himself. I should imagine poor Liara will end up pairing off with Wrex when we pick her up.

We advance down the corridor in twos, one pair advancing while the other pairs cover them from all angles. My first proper combat mission. I have to admit I'm a little nervous. Okay, make that a lot nervous. My palms are sweating under my armoured gloves, my breathing is rapid and shallow and my heart is pounding on the inside of my ribcage. The slightest sound has me spinning around and flaring my biotics.

Tali and Garrus are at the rear of our unit when she calls out.

"Shepard! Geth Dropship!"

Cesca toggles her comm link to Joker.

"Joker! Get the Normandy's barriers up now!"

The Normandy is surrounded by a blue flicker as the dropship fires a blinding burst of plasma fire that rocks the entire ship.

Oh, those synthetic cattle-fuckers. This was not in the game.


	3. Chapter 3

I dive for cover as the dropship fires, gouts of plasma fire rolling over our position. Quickly checking around, I see that the majority of the squad have escaped harm, although our shields have been depleted somewhat. I toggle the squad-wide channel.

"Now what?"

Cesca quickly steps up and takes control of the situation.

"We need to get that thing to target us so the Normandy can get out of the bay and engage it. Joker!"

"Commander! Our barriers can't take much more of this!"

"We'll draw their fire. Get out of here and blow that fucker up!"

The Normandy starts to disengage from the dock as Cesca makes a couple of sharp hand gestures, commanding our attention.

"Alright. Spread out and lay some fire on that thing. If it targets you then hunker down. Go!"

The seven of us peel off, sprinting to different cover points. The dropship fires a burst at Tali and she slides into cover just in time to avoid the plasma bolts. I blind fire my pistol, six rounds and then the heavy shot that almost knocks me off balance. The heavy shot seems to attract the dropship's attention and I am staggered by a plasma strike before I manage to hurl myself behind a wall. I can hear the reports of the squad's weapons coming hard and fast, punctuated by the low throbbing of the dropship's plasma cannon. It starts moving closer, disregarding the Normandy and instead focusing all three cannons on us.

"Garrus, Kaidan, move! It's going to flank you!"

At Cesca's warning, the two men sprint across the short open space towards a better cover position. Another burst from the dropship knocks Kaidan down. He clutches his smoking leg and swears vehemently as Garrus drags him into cover. I can hear Cesca sounding worried over the comm.

"Kaidan? You okay?"

"Bastards got me in the leg, but I'm okay. Kill that shitbag for me."

I toggle my comm, unable to resist a little light teasing.

"What is this I hear? Cool Calm Kaidan has a bit of a potty mouth on him."

"Fuck off Ivan."

Cesca, Garrus and Tali join me in laughing. Wrex growls.

"If you're done bitching we have a dropship to shoot."

It's strange. In anticipation of combat I was scared witless, jumping out of my skin at every little thing. Now there is a great big Geth dropship shooting at me, I feel icy calm and everything seems to be moving in slow motion. I lean my head out of cover and switch my external speakers to maximum.

"OY! CATTLE-FUCKER!" And with that I biotically fling one of those explosive crates that are always lying around in Mass Effect at the dropship before opening up with my pistol. Garrus quickly draws a bead and detonates the explosive just before it hits the dropship, making a burst of fire flicker against its kinetic barriers.

"Nice!" He laughs as the dropship pulls back a bit, a laugh that quickly turns into a torrent of curses as it surges forwards again. Tali calls out over the comm.

"They're dropping troops!"

I make a snap decision.

"Everyone fall back to my position! They can't hit us from both sides here!"

Cesca thinks about it for a millisecond.

"You heard the man. Fall back to Ivan! Garrus, Kaidan, you first! Tali, Wrex, draw its fire! Ash, move up next!"

Garrus picks Kaidan up in a fireman's lift and makes the short sprint towards me, weaving to avoid the dropship's fire. Ash follows moments later, sliding into cover beside me, her assault rifle glowing cherry red. Wrex is hot on her heels, cackling manically as he blasts away with his shotgun. Geth troopers start raining down from the dropship, already firing at us.

"Tali's pinned down! Cover me while I go grab her!"

Then, moments later:

"Shit! I'm pinned down too!"

"Hold on, Commander! We'll lay down some cover fire!" Kaidan hobbles into cover. Okay, think. If this was the game, how would I play this?

"Alright. Garrus, Williams, use assault rifles to lay down fire on those Geth platforms. Kaidan, give them tech and biotic support. Me and Wrex are going to take these fuckers up close."

Wrex gives a sharp bark of agreement.

"I like it."

Garrus pulls out his assault rifle and rolls across to take cover opposite Ashley as Kaidan clenches his fists, an Omnitool appearing on his left as his right glows with biotic energy. For a moment Ashley looks like she's going to protest but then she shuts her mouth and holds her assault rifle at the ready.

"Somebody holler if the dropship targets me and Wrex. Go!"

Two assault rifles start clattering and a biotic throw sails over our heads as me and Wrex charge into melee. Wrex draws first blood, or whatever it is Geth have instead of blood, as he smashes one in the head with his shotgun before firing point blank into another one's chest. I am right behind, my sword in my hand, stabbing out to impale a Geth in the chest before slicing upwards, cleaving through its head and out. Unlike organics, where a stab is usually fatal, the Geth require sweeping chopping strikes to physically separate parts of their bodies. For someone who has spent hundreds of hours training in épée, foils and sabre, avoiding their clumsy bludgeons and hacking through them is laughably easy. The platforms that aren't in our immediate reach try to fall back and engage at mid range but using our biotics we pull a significant number of them back towards us, back in range of my sword and Wrex's ... well, back in range of Wrex. Using a combination of bludgeoning, point blank shotgun blasts and his head, Wrex is crushing synthetic after synthetic as I chop through them, separating limbs and cleaving through bodies. Out of the corner of my eye I see Cesca and Tali run over to the others and moments later the number of assault rifles firing increases by one and more biotic and tech attacks start decimating the Geth. I neatly trisect a trooper with a quick double slash before toggling my comm.

"Wrex! Fall back!"

We stand shoulder to shoulder, slowly working our way backwards. I sling my sword and switch back to my pistol, hammering away at the Geth's shields as I unleash a torrent of biotic attacks on the hapless synthetics.

"The dropship's targeting you!"

Wrex shoves me aside and then dives out of the way as a plasma bolt impacts between us, the concussive force of the blast smashing us against the walls. The dropship still hovers there, cheerfully blasting away with its plasma cannons as we duck into the corridor. Cesca toggles her comm link.

"We're clear."

There is the thundering boom of a mass accelerator round and moments later Joker's whoops come through the comm. One less dropship to worry about.

Cesca gestures for us to start moving up again. Now the dropship and the Geth platforms are gone I can feel the tension starting to return. The whole squad is more jumpy, keeping their heads on the swivel as every shadow promises to hold another Geth. Several times we are held up by someone snapping their weapon up at a random spot, only to lower it moments later, muttering an excuse. Finally we reach a stairwell and start to cautiously ascend, still covering one another as the stairs wind upwards. I subconsciously rest my hand against the chest armour concealing my pendant as I rise. I have a feeling I'm going to need my biotics in a minute. I know exactly what's coming. Shame I can't warn everyone ... Or maybe I can.

I bring my pistol up, squeeze off three shots. Everyone brings their own weapons up to the empty patch of wall I had fired at.

"I saw something. It looked like a Geth, but climbing the wall. It jumped away as soon as I saw it."

Ashley cuts in, sardonic as ever.

"So we're jumping at shadows now?"

To my surprise it is Wrex who replies.

"Shut your hole, pyjak. I thought I saw something like that earlier."

Cesca nods and motions with her pistol. Her rifle is slung on her back, the tacky polymer casing in stark contrast to the smooth, clean shape of the Assassin pistol in her hand.

"Alright. Stay frosty. Watch the walls and ceiling for climbing hostiles."

I decide I can probably get away with one more piece of advice.

"It was damn fast, whatever it was. Immobilising it biotically is probably our best bet."

"You heard the man. Non-biotics, get in the centre of the group. If you see it, overload its shields and start blasting. Biotics, pull fields."

We ascend the stairs in our new formation, Shepard and the still-limping Kaidan at the front, Wrex and me at the rear. I open a private channel to Wrex.

"Thanks for backing me up back there."

He grunts.

"I thought I had just imagined the damn hopper when I first saw it. Besides, any chance to knock that pyjak down a peg."

"So, I have to ask, what's the Krogan social convention regarding head butting?"

He is silent for a moment.

"It's complicated. There are different kinds of head butt. The koshnir, which comes downwards from the neck, is a sign of respect for a worthy opponent, or a challenge to single combat depending on the situation. The fauskar, which comes forward and down from the waist, is a sign of contempt or irritation. The khajhat, which is where the forehead is bowed and then the tips of the crests are clashed together, is used to denote respect and brotherhood towards a valued member of your clan." He goes on to explain all nine types of Krogan head butt, all the while keeping his eyes scouring the ceiling and walls for any sign of the hoppers.

"So if I wanted to shut Williams up, I would use the fauskar?"

"Unless she just insulted you or a member of your krannt, in which case you would use the krannjar, or if she said you were inferior in combat to her, in which case you would use the forsellak."

"I see." I'm glad my comm system automatically records conversations. When we get back to the Normandy I'm going to have to make a list.

I am instantly snapped back into the moment by a flicker of movement on the wall ahead.

"Possible contact, eleven o clock high."

Cesca is quick to reply.

"Copy. I saw it too. Wait ... Three high!"

Four biotic pulls streak out, enveloping the hopper in glowing blue as it drifts away from the wall. Ashley is quick to put it down with a short burst from her assault rifle. I might not like her, but she's a damn good markswoman and scary fast, too. As the body falls to the ground, Tali runs her Omnitool over it.

"I've never seen a Geth platform like this," she confesses. "It looks as if it's optimised for fast movement and long leaps."

Garrus suddenly snaps his sniper rifle up almost to the vertical. With a sharp report, another hopper falls to the ground, a single round through its head. Cesca sounds impressed over the comm.

"Sharp shooting, Garrus."

For some reason I can't help but feel a little jealous when she compliments him. It's completely irrational and I berate myself mentally as I keep a look out for any more hoppers bouncing around the stairwell. It must be a good twenty stories at least and even with the armour's servos I'm feeling the burn when we finally reach the top. Kaidan, with his injured leg, looks to be having the worst of it and I can't resist a little friendly teasing. Again.

"Hey Kaidan. If you ask nicely I'm sure Wrex will carry you."

"That'd be nice. All this sexual tension between you and Ash is making me feel faint."

For the first time ever I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with Ash.

"No way!"

He presses his advantage.

"Maybe she should carry you."

To my surprise Cesca sounds a little snappy as she cuts us off.

"Look sharp. Gunfire ahead."

We instantly slip back into our professional demeanour as the chatter of assault rifle fire reaches our ears. I find that quite cool, how one second we can be acting like a bunch of snarky teenagers and the next we are cold, professional killers. Up ahead, we spot a small group of Geth engaging what looks to be a group of civilians with mismatched weapons and no armour to speak of. Rather predictably, the Geth are pressing them hard, but it seems like somehow they are holding their own. Cesca motions us into cover.

"Alright, we'll hit these shits from behind. Kaidan, Tali, watch our six. Garrus, centre left. Ash, use your sniper. Centre right. Ivan, heavy shot, leftmost. The red one. I've got the rightmost. As soon as they're down, Wrex charge up to the colony. Me and Ivan will be right behind you. If one of us misses the shot, finish them off. Ready?"

She gets a chorus of affirmatives.

"Aim."

I draw a bead on my target, aiming right for the centre of its back.

"Fire!"

Four simultaneous gunshots ring out. Shit! My bullet was off centre, just clipping the damn thing's side. Wrex is already off, a shotgun blast dispatching the one I missed, so I follow him, sword in hand as Cesca falls in step right behind me. We break out into the clear area in front of the barricades as Kaidan sends a transmission.

"Heavy Geth unit coming up our six!"

Cesca toggles her comm.

"Fall back!"

"Negative! We're pinned!"

"Shit!"

Then moments later a familiar flanging voice.

"Kaidan's hit! Looks bad!"

"Status report!"

"Heavy bipedal unit keeping us pinned down with a rapid fire cannon. Tali's calling it a Prime. We've also got three platforms armed with rocket launchers and two recon drones. We can't even poke our heads out of cover with this volume of fire. Kaidan's out cold and his leg looks broken."

Cesca punches the wall, shoulders shaking as she tries to think her way out of this problem.

"If we took out the Prime, the rest shouldn't be a problem."

I look around. Remember this isn't regular Mass Effect. This is real life. Think outside the box.

"Wrex, do you think you can shift one of those barricades?"

He rolls his shoulders.

"Easily."

Cesca looks at me.

"What are you thinking?"

"We make ourselves an armoured vehicle. Wrex pushes the barricade along the hallway. We shoot out the sides, duck behind cover if the Geth shoot back."

"I like it. Wrex, can you do it?"

"Easily."

Wrex pushes a couple of colonists aside.

"Move. I need to borrow this."

They just look at him blankly. He shifts the barricade to the mouth of the hallway.

"Ready?"

We take up position and he starts to push. I lean out the side and squeeze off a couple of rounds with my pistol. The rocket troopers respond with three rockets that slam into the barricade, almost knocking Wrex over as he struggles to keep it upright.

"Shepard! I won't be able to hold it if they keep up that weight of fire!"

She shoves two grenades into my hands.

"Ivan! Biotically float these at the Geth. We'll blind them with a simultaneous explosion and allow the others to fall back. Go!"

Without pausing to think about it I send the two grenades at the Geth, keeping pace with the three sent by Cesca. We send them right up into the Prime's face before detonating them. A computerised cry of surprise and pain echoes down the passageway as Garrus, Ash and Tali hurry back towards us, Garrus dragging the unconscious Kaidan as Ash keeps up a steady barrage with her assault rifle. After a six second sprint they are crouching behind the barricade. Our impromptu armoured vehicle is getting a little crowded.

"Garrus, Ash, fall back to the edges of the corridor and start sniping that Prime. Wrex, Tali, stay put, blast your boomsticks at anything that gets close. Ivan, help me get Alenko's sorry ass somewhere a little safer."

I hook my hands under Kaidan's arms and Cesca takes his legs. Making sure to stay where the Geth can't draw a bead, we carry him back into the colony and check him over, only distantly hearing the muffled whoops as the Prime explodes. I take my helmet off and lay it on the ground beside me as I examine him, while Cesca pulls her hood down and removes her mask, clipping it to her belt.

"I reckon Garrus was right about the broken leg."

She nods and gingerly removes Kaidan's helmet, feeling around the back of his head.

"I think that's it. He just got knocked out by the fall."

As if on cue, he stirs, rubbing his head.

"Hey Commander. You're so pretty."

"Oh, and he's concussed too."

"No, I think he's right about that."

I resist the urge to clap my hand over my mouth as I realise what I just said. She smiles at me in that disarming way she always smiles.

"That's very sweet Ivan, but let's focus on the Geth for now."

Feeling my cheeks burning red, I look back down at Kaidan.

"Hey Ivan. You went red like a lobster."

"So how do we fix him? Because if we don't he might get a tiny but more concussed."

"Struck a nerve?"

"I ... But ... Um ... Let's just sort out Kaidan."

"My leg feels funny."

"No shit."

Cesca frowns as she waves her Omnitool over the break.

"He's going to need a bone weave. He's in no shape to fight Geth."

I glance over and notice the rest of the squad swaggering back into the colony, with Garrus boasting about some crazy shot he pulled, Wrex and Ash pointedly pretending they are the only ones there while Tali humours her Turian squadmate. Cesca approaches one of the colonists.

"Are you alright? What's your situation?"

She looks blank for a moment.

"Speak to Fai Dan. He's our leader."

Damn. I'd forgotten how annoying these Thorianised colonists were. I haul Kaidan up and help him hobble into the colony, my other hand going out to steady us against a wall. He's heavy. Every colonist I see looks a bit spaced out. Cesca catches my eye and mimes snorting red sand, then gives me a cheeky grin. If only she knew exactly what these colonists were inhaling.

A warning shout goes up from the colonists.

"Geth in the tower!"

I pull my helmet back on.

"Let's mash those cattle-fuckers."

We head up to the tower, blowing through a handful of Geth troopers, and then come out on a long corridor with two levels to it.

"Geth Destroyer!"

Wrex immediately charges in and I follow closely, sword gripped in both hands. Wrex and the Destroyer smash into each other in a nightmare collision of flesh and metal, the sound of splintering armour and a Krogan roar of pain clearly evident as Wrex reels away, one hand blasting with his shotgun while the other clutches his chest where orange runs down his armour. I sweep my sword at the Destroyer's legs but the bloody thing clubs me with its shotgun, the impact sending me flying, swiftly followed by a shotgun blast that takes out most of my shields. I smack into the wall, grateful for my heavy armour as I see Cesca hit the Destroyer with a Throw, knocking it on its ass as Tali scampers up and finishes it off with three point blank shotgun blasts. Note to self, don't engage Destroyers in melee. Cesca runs up to me.

"Ivan! Are you okay?"

"They didn't get through my barrier. Is Wrex okay?"

She looks over at Tali injecting medigel into his wounds and nods.

"Yeah, he'll be alright. Medigel, Krogan regeneration, he's all set."

"Hey Cesca. Do you ever wish you were a Krogan?"

She grins.

"Hell no. Krogan aren't pretty like me."

I scramble to my feet and pick up my sword. Ash and Garrus pretty much finished off the last of the Geth, so there really isn't anything for me to do. Garrus walks up to Cesca.

"We should check in with Fai Dan. He's the closest thing there is around here to proper channels."

Cesca nods.

"Alright, back to the colony, ladies and gents."

Cesca returns from her little chat with Fai Dan looking disgruntled.

"He's refusing to give us access to the Skyway until we sort out his colony's food, water and power situation, as well as taking out a Geth transmitter tower, plus I'm not comfortable leaving the colony undefended. Do you think you can take a team down the tunnels and sort out the problems?"

Seriously? She's entrusting me with a squad? I say as much and she pats me on the excessively large pauldron.

"Look Ivan, you've already shown that you're a decent gunman, a brilliant hand to hand fighter and an excellent tactician and leader. Trust me, you can do this."

"Alright. I'll get it done. Stay safe."

"You too. Who do you want?"

I think about it for a couple of seconds.

"I'll take Garrus for long range work, and you mentioned a Geth transmitter?"

"Yep."

"In that case I'll take Tali too. And Cesca? Watch yourself and watch Kaidan. There's something off about these people."

She nods grimly.

"Agreed. Now I believe you have some Geth to redistribute."

I smile and clap her on the shoulder before putting my helmet back on.

"That I do."

I toggle the comm channel.

"Garrus, Tali, on me. We've got some troubleshooting to do down in the tunnels."

A/N: Please review if you like it. Hearing your feedback really means a lot to me. In addition, an important announcement - This is going to be a big one. It will go right the way through all three games and maybe even beyond, getting increasingly AU as it does. At the moment my plan is halfway through Mass Effect 2 and already stands at eighty four chapters (!). I may bring in some OCs as well - the DLC missions in particular are going to be very, very AU, so if anyone has OC requests please PM me. In the meantime, stay shiny.


	4. Chapter 4

I'd forgotten how much I hate the tunnels on Feros. I'm on point, with Tali right behind me and Garrus on our six, slowly making our way down the tunnels as we keep our guard way up. I'm really starting to hate this, the spaces between combat when enemies could be anywhere, every sound could be a Geth lying in wait, every twitch could be a creature stalking you in the shadows. I hadn't expected that. I had always assumed the fighting itself, always a second away from death, your life and the lives of your squad in the balance, would be the most nerve-wracking, terrifying experience it was possible to live through, but it's actually strangely exhilarating. It's the anticipation that gets me every time.

Behind me, Tali is gripping her shotgun tight, her head wheeling around at every indication. I open a private channel.

"Hey Tali. You okay?"

I can hear a quaver in her voice as she responds.

"Just nervous."

"Don't worry. Just as soon as the bullets start flying, get to cover and follow my lead. You'll be alright."

I'd forgotten how young and inexperienced Tali is. She's only eighteen years old. To be stalking around Geth-infested tunnels at that age - I'm surprised she's still functional. Then again I suppose the same could be said for me, and here I am, leading a squad of all things.

Garrus interrupts my musings.

"Hold up. I smell Krogan."

I sigh.

"You don't suppose they're nice cuddly Krogan like Wrex?"

"Sorry, I think my translator just glitched. Did you just call Wrex cuddly?"

"Like a big angry armoured shotgun-toting biotic teddy bear."

I press myself up against a corner, then poke my head around.

"I've got visual on four platforms, two recon drones and one big-ass Krogan that looks to be bossing them around. When I give the shout, I want tech blitz on the Geth platforms then focus fire on the Krogan. I'd rather it not get in melee range. Ready?"

Garrus and Tali both raise their Omnitools. Garrus takes out his assault rifle and lays it at his feet as Tali slips across to take cover on the other side of the hallway.

"Go!"

The area around the Geth lights up in a blinding flash as tech and biotic attacks tear them apart, and then we start firing at the Krogan. Garrus fires off his sniper rifle, then drops it and picks up his assault rifle, the single heavy penetration bullet blowing through the Krogan's armour then the assault rifle fire riddling it with holes. I start firing off my pistol, first the heavy shot that catches it in the shoulder, then the six pistol shots, each one opening up a new hole in the armour plating. Tali opens with her pistol, emptying it into the charging Krogan before dropping it and switching to her shotgun. We have emptied six heat sinks into the damn thing and it is still staggering towards us. I take out my sword and hold it in the guard position as Garrus and Tali frantically reload. My first Krogan and it's a melee fight. Outstanding.

It roars and picks up speed, though it's nowhere near as fast as Wrex. I brace for the impact, holding my sword back for a power thrust into the thing's neck. Then it suddenly falls, writhing on the ground. I look back and see Tali holding her shotgun, still aimed at where the Krogan's knees were five seconds ago.

"Nice shooting."

With considerable effort I roll the still-thrashing Krogan onto its back and execute it with a single heavy shot through the brain. I would feel sorry for the poor guy, but he did just try to kill us. The Geth platforms that were supposed to be backing him up are piles of parts, reduced to scrap by the tech and biotic onslaught we had subjected them too.

"Come on, let's keep moving." I pop the two scorching heat sinks and replace them with two fresh ones in my pistol as we walk onwards, still keeping an eye out for hostiles. Garrus and Tali are keeping their guard up too, something I am glad to see.

"So Ivan. What's on the shopping list?"

I tick off the items on my fingers.

"We need to fix their water pumps, clear out a nest of varren, scrounge some power cells and take out a Geth transmitter. That's about it."

Garrus rubs the back of his neck.

"Oh, okay. That's not too much."

I quirk an eyebrow despite the fact that he can't see my face under my helmet.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Garrus."

Tali cuts in.

"I think he just needs some practice."

"Alright. Playtime's over. There's probably more where Chucky back there came from."

"Chucky?"

That was always Martin's joke. Whenever he was fighting Krogan in the game he called them Chucky or Chuckles.

"The Krogan."

"Ah."

We continue on in silence for a while. Hallway after hallway, if it wasn't for the map on my Omnitool I'd be hopelessly lost right about now.

"Alright. According to this map, the varren nest is through here. Everyone set?"

Garrus switches to his assault rifle and Tali readies an Incinerate on her Omnitool as she grips her shotgun.

"Let's do this quietly. Maybe we can catch them napping."

I take a step into the room and I am confronted with a snarling mass of claws and teeth.

"Or maybe not. Any time you like, guys."

Tali sends a fireball into the centre of the group as Garrus lets rip with his assault rifle, strafing the pack. I take up a guard position, sword held up as the first one leaps at me. I impale it on my sword and use its own momentum to swing it back behind me as another one leaps, only to receive a faceful of lead from Tali's shotgun. I charge at a group, yanking them off the ground with a Pull field before swiftly finishing them off with a Throw, turning around to stab another one through the head. It gurgles as I yank my sword out just in time to be hit in the back by something very large. Cursing, I go down hard, feeling heavy claws scrabbling at my armour.

"A little help here!"

Pinned on my front as I am, I can't defend myself as the alpha varren claws at my back. If I hadn't been wearing heavy armour it would be using my spine as a chew toy right about now. Tali's shotgun roars a total of five times before the thing gets off my back. Pushing myself up, there's no time to grab my sword or pistol. Five shotgun blasts and it's still kicking. I settle for pulling a Krogan and I crush the damn thing beneath my armoured bulk. As I body slam it I can hear the crunching of bones that accompany its pained howl, a howl that is cut short when its ribcage collapses in and crushes its lungs. The rest of the pack flees, barking in terror as I pick myself up. My front is covered in varren gore and the back of my armour is all scratched up. I'll definitely need to get it repaired the next time I'm on the Citadel. Garrus looks at the sorry state of my armour as I sling my sword back on my back.

"Damn. You look like you just hugged a varren to death. Oh wait."

I nod.

"You're getting much better at this sarcasm business. Kudos."

Tali sighs.

"We've still got water, power and a Geth transmitter to go."

I suppose she's right. I glance around and notice the old crashed vehicle that you pulled power cells from in the game. How it got there is anyone's guess but I'm not complaining.

"What about that? Could you salvage any power cells?"

"Please. I did this kind of thing all the time back on the Flotilla."

She dives into the vehicle and moments later an enthusiastic banging echoes from the depths. Garrus and I sit either side of the hatch, keeping a lookout. I rest my sword on my knees and start wiping the varren blood off it.

"Why a sword?"

"Huh?" I look up at Garrus.

"What made you decide to bring a sword?"

I look down at the blade.

"Me and Martin, we were fencing champions back in school. Épée, sabre and foils. I guess when we were designing the armour we thought it would be cool to have swords on it. Also, the armour design is based off this old game Martin plays ... played called Tribes Ascend. In the game they all ran around with swords so I guess he thought what the hell. Might as well."

Garrus nods slowly.

"I see. I also noticed it seems to cut through things with ease."

"Yeah, the guy who made it put in a little mass effect generator in the handle that basically vibrates the blade at a really high speed. It could probably chop right through the Normandy's outer hull."

"Please don't do that."

We both laugh. Finally Tali is done inside the vehicle. When she pops out her exosuit is covered in grime and she triumphantly brandishes two power cells at us before putting them across her back in a makeshift sling.

"So now it's just water and power left to go. Any ideas?"

I bring up the map on my Omnitool and Garrus and Tali crowd round to look.

"So this is the section we haven't been through yet. The water pumps and the transmitter are most likely in there somewhere. If I was the Geth, I'd put the transmitter tower here. One point of access, which makes a good chokepoint, plus multiple defensive positions here, here and here."

Garrus nods.

"Seems correct. We'll need to hit fast to get through them."

I take out my pistol and check it over before motioning back to the entrance of the nest.

"Let's get moving then."

We slowly make our way down the tunnels, pausing every so often to indulge our paranoia as we strain our ears to catch the slightest sound that might indicate marauding Geth or Krogan. There's nothing for a good five minutes, then we detect the mechanical chattering of Geth troopers up ahead. Tali is on point and she disappears around the corner for a moment before coming back around.

"I see four Geth. Three Troopers and a Destroyer."

I think about it for a couple of seconds.

"Alright. I'll knock the Destroyer on its ass biotically, then we take out the Troopers. Once they're down we can get rid of the Destroyer. Ready?"

Another chorus of affirmatives.

"Go!"

I lean out from behind cover and slap the Destroyer with as many Newtons of biotic force as I can muster, sending it flying to the ground and back along the passageway as Garrus cleanly headshots one of the Troopers and another falls to a concerted Tech attack from Tali. By the time the third trooper has turned around Tali has blown its head off with her shotgun, just leaving us with the Destroyer scrambling to its feet at the end of the passageway. I fire off my heavy shot and predictably miss but Garrus is there with his sniper rifle. A single bullet to the flashlight head and it's all over.

"And that's a wrap. Tali, can you get the valves online?"

She fixes me a look as she reaches out and presses a button. The valves come back online.

"That was easy. Right, just the transmitter tower to go."

The transmitter tower, as it turns out, was slightly less easy. Well, a lot less easy. We have a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, a shotgun, two pistols, a sword, three grenades, two Omnitools and a biotic up against ten Geth plasma rifles, three shotguns, three Krogan attached to said shotguns and a flamethrower. Pretty evenly matched, right? Wrong. We're going to have to be clever about this.

As one, we lob all our grenades into the room. As soon as the explosion thunders out I lean in and biotically pull three Geth troopers, finishing them off a couple of seconds later with a Throw that detonates the three hapless troopers. Beyond that point tactics are abandoned in favour of a frantic melee as the three Krogan, all wounded from the grenades, throw themselves into the fray. I have just enough time to unsling my sword before one of the damn things barrels into me, smashing me against the wall. From that angle I can't get a good strike in with my sword as I twist my body away from the fist that hammers into my gut, knocking the air out of my lungs. The second blow is equally punishing but as the Krogan pulls back for a third I shove off the wall with all my might, staggering it just long enough for me to biotically sweep its legs out from underneath it. It only has time for a surprised curse before I stab my sword downwards through its eye, ending its brief existence with a satisfying gurgle as I sweep my sword up into the guard position. Another of the Krogan has Tali pinned to the floor and is raising a fist to punch downwards into her stomach. I press the barrel of my pistol against the side of its head and pull the trigger, evacuating the brute's brains, and then biotically shove it off Tali as it falls. Garrus is just finishing his off as I bend over Tali, checking her over. She rolls onto her side with a retching cough sound and moments later a gout of blood spills from her mask's venting chamber. Shit!

"Garrus! Tali's taken a bad hit. Blow that transmitter then cover me!"

I pick Tali up in my arms. It's surprising how light she is. I kneel down, holding her as Garrus injects two shots of dextro medigel into her system, then a special vial of antibiotics. Then I get to my knees again.

The sprint out of the tunnels is the most nerve-wracking experience of my life so far. I focus on the tunnel ahead of me, blocking out the sounds of Geth screams and the bursts of fire from Garrus's assault rifle, as well as the pained moans of Tali potentially dying in my arms. My barrier occasionally takes a couple of hits as I run and at one point I hear the roar of a Krogan in pain. Finally the colony draws into view after almost two minutes of full tilt running.

"Coming in hot! One critically injured!"

I blur past Wrex and Ashley and into the colony's crude medbay where I lay Tali down on an unoccupied bed. Kaidan limps over and runs his Omnitool over her.

"It looks like her suit's still intact but she's suffered minor organ trauma and several broken ribs. She won't be up and about until we can get her in surgery but she's going to be all right."

I slump against the wall of the medbay and let out a loud sigh. I look up again to see Cesca kneeling next to me.

"Are you alright Ivan?"

I take my helmet off and run an armoured hand through my hair.

"I don't think I'm cut out for this leadership thing."

She sits down heavily beside me.

"Really? Because Garrus seems dead impressed with your leadership skills."

"I almost got Tali killed."

"He told me about the crazy odds you were facing down there. If I'd known exactly how many Geth and Krogan were down there I'd have sent the whole team. You did brilliantly, Ivan. And besides, back when we were fighting that dropship? I heard you giving out orders over the comm. You're a natural leader."

I smile at the praise, although I'm still feeling guilty about Tali.

"Thanks Cesca."

She stands and offers her hand to me. After a moments hesitation I take it and she hauls me to my feet.

"I want you with me. We're heading out to ExoGeni HQ in the Mako."

I nod and put my helmet back on.

"I'll be there. Who else is coming with us?"

"Ash and Garrus. I'm leaving Wrex here to take care of Tali and Kaidan. Grab your gear, we're heading out in fifteen."

And with that she leaves the room. I quickly stock up on heat sinks, grenades and medigel before heading outside and almost bumping into Wrex. He growls as I hurriedly step aside. I call out after him.

"Hey Wrex."

He turns to fix me with his blood red eyes.

"I have a feeling this is going to go bad. Stick close to Kaidan and Tali."

He nods.

"Will do. I got that feeling too."

And with that he is gone. I turn to see Cesca, Garrus and Ash waiting for me at one of the entrances to the colony. I smile sheepishly as I hurry up to them, then mentally berate myself as I remember they can't see my facial expressions through the helmet's visor. Ash looks me up and down.

"That fancy armour looks beat to hell and gone. Sure you can keep up?"

"With your inspirational motivational speeches? Undoubtedly, my dear."

Cesca chuckles and shakes her head.

"Claws away, ladies. The skyway is just up here."

I roll my eyes as I fall in behind Cesca. The elevator is much more modern than the Prothean ruins we are standing in, seeming to have been installed by the colonists themselves. I briefly puzzle over why the Protheans would have an enormous empty shaft in one of their towers. Thinking about the Collectors, the answer hits me almost immediately.

"So I was thinking about why the Protheans would have an enormous empty vertical shaft in one of their buildings. You don't suppose they could fly?"

Ash immediately scoffs, more out of principle than anything else, but Cesca and Garrus pointedly ignore her. When Cesca speaks she sounds thoughtful.

"That never occurred to me before. I thought their architecture was just a bit weird, but if they had wings it makes a lot more sense."

Garrus nods as he chips in.

"You're right. I can't believe nobody else thought of that."

Of course Ash feels the need to be bitchy.

"As fascinating as this is can we please focus?"

I say nothing but roll my eyes again under my helmet.

Eventually the elevator door slides open and we step out into the loading area, weapons immediately held at the ready. Nothing. Our comm crackles.

"Commander. I dropped the Mako in that loading area you requested."

We look down and sure enough the Mako is sitting there. I'm suddenly nervous.

"So who's driving?"

Cesca starts heading down to the tank.

"I'm driving. Garrus, you're on the gun. Let's go."

We pile into the tank, Cesca heading forwards into the driver's position and Garrus hauling himself up into the gun turret. I sit down heavily on one of the seats in the troop compartment, Ashley taking the seat furthest away. I honestly have no idea why she's so hostile to me. I'm human, for god's sakes!

My thoughts of Ash's bitchiness are immediately forgotten as the Mako starts to move. Ah shit, Mako physics please don't exist. My prayers go unanswered as the whole vehicle shudders, jump jets propelling us into the air as the cannon booms through the compartment.

"What the hell is going on out there!"

"I'm shooting at a Geth Armature! It's shooting back! That answer your question?"

"No need for bitchiness, Garrus."

The Mako swerves wildly as Cesca toggles her comm link.

"Hey Garrus, can Turians get tattoos?"

There is a short silence as the machine gun clatters, then a reply.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I was thinking maybe next time we're on the Citadel," the Mako shoots into the air as the distinctive sound of a rocket whooshes by beneath us, "we should all get inked."

I join in the conversation.

"I'd be up for that. But what about Tali? Surely that would kill her?"

Garrus fires the cannon again.

"Actually there's this big parlour on Tayseri Ward, run by a lovely Volus couple called Lisko and Toki, who claim to have equipment so sterile they can do Quarians."

I try to resist and fail miserably.

"That sentence could be misinterpreted very easily."

Cesca bursts out laughing, drowning out Ash's mutter of "Juvenile" and the sound of a siege pulse whooshing past. Garrus is quick to rectify his mistake.

"I mean they can give tattoos to Quarians."

"Well, I'm in." I've never actually got a tattoo before so I'm intrigued. "So what were you thinking? Ash in a chain mail bikini with wings holding Saren's decapitated head?"

"Fuck off Ivan."

Before the conversation devolves into a slanging match Cesca interrupts.

"I was thinking more like a top down view of the Normandy. Maybe we could come up with a motto in Latin or something."

"How about Servatoresque Galaxia?"

"You speak Latin?"

I shake my head even though she can't see me.

"I downloaded a text translator to my Omnitool. It means Saviours of the Galaxy."

"I dunno. It's a little ostentatious, don't you think?"

"Okay, then what about 'Clamabunt vastitas et dimit canes bellum'? That's 'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!'"

"Shakespeare, really?"

Our conversation is cut short by the Mako coasting to a halt.

"Alright, we're here. Please disembark for ExoGeni HQ."


	5. Chapter 5

We stalk our way through the abandoned, rubble strewn outer garage of ExoGeni HQ, guns at the ready, twitching at every little sound. Garrus looks at my pistol and shakes his head.

"We're going to have to get you something more substantial than a pistol at some point. Even if it is a very powerful pistol."

He does have a point. I feel a little ridiculous in this heavy armour with nothing but a pistol to shoot stuff with.

"Yeah. Maybe a big-ass grenade launcher, or one of those shoulder fired mass accelerators."

"I was thinking more an assault rifle, or something."

"In all seriousness I think we need a heavy. If we go up against an Armature or Dropship on foot we're going to get mashed."

Cesca nods thoughtfully.

"He's right. If we had decent anti-tank weapons that dropship back in the docking bay would have been far less messy. I'll look into getting us some missile launchers when we get back to the Citadel."

Sweet. Missile launchers would make things a lot easier, especially when we go head to head with that cattle-fucking Colossus on Therum.

Garrus peers at the force field blocking our access to the base.

"There's got to be another way in. This isn't a fortress."

Cesca peers down a shaft.

"How about this?"

"One way drop, Commander."

"Unless you have wings," I add.

We drop down into the cavernous room, weapons held at the ready. To my surprise Lizbeth doesn't try to take a shot at us, instead calling out.

"Hello?"

She steps out from behind cover and I tune out the conversation, keeping watch on our six. After a couple of minutes of chin-wagging with the ExoGeni employee we head up a stairwell that leads into the complex proper. The first thing we encounter is the Krogan shouting at the VI terminal.

"Stupid machine!"

With a couple of hand signals and an answering nod from Cesca, I sneak up right behind the angry Krogan, my sword out in my hands. As I am right behind him I tap him on the shoulder with my sword.

"Hey Chucky."

As he turns I thrust upwards, driving my sword up and under his crest. He instantly freezes as he feels the blade up against his scalp.

"Now Chucky, you know what happens if I twist my sword here. The nice lady here has some questions for you, if you don't mind."

Cesca steps forward to face the quivering Krogan.

"Why are the Geth attacking Zhu's Hope?"

To his credit his voice is calm and level as he replies, though his eyes are locked on my sword.

"They're after the Thorian. Saren wants it gone so it can't tell you what it told him."

"What's a Thorian?"

"Some sort of plant that lives under the colony. It's mind controlling the colonists."

"How?"

"Saren doesn't tell me that kind of thing. I'm just here to find out if the Thorian has a weakness."

He shifts slightly, as if he's going to try grabbing the sword. I tilt it slightly, making him tense up again as the plate starts to come away from his head.

"What did the Thorian tell Saren?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" I twist the blade slightly and a note of panic creeps into his voice. "I'm telling you, I don't know!"

"Okay. Okay. One more thing. Can Krogan get tattoos?"

"Huh? Uh ... Yes. I think."

I decide to throw in my two cents.

"Now if it were up to me, you'd be minus a plate right now, but Shepard here has these things called morals. What do you want to do with him?"

She looks at him critically, the blank mask of the Fury armour concealing her thoughts. Then she hits him with a biotic strike that knocks him out cold. I pull my sword from his skull and sheath it. Garrus looks at me, clearly impressed.

"What was that? It looked like you were about to make that Krogan piss himself."

"If you lodge a blade in the right place you can rip their crests clean off their head. It's the equivalent of tearing a Human's junk off."

He winces at the bluntness of that last statement. Cesca gestures up the stairwell.

"Let's go."

The base itself provides little challenge, with me and Cesca leading, using our biotics to pluck Geth out of cover while Garrus and Ash use their sniper rifles to headshot them as they drift around impotently. As we make our way through the base we start chatting, as insane as that is.

"So Garrus. You grew up on Palaven, right?"

"Yeah. It's a beautiful place. The whole planet is covered in this fine white sand, but not like a desert, there are hundreds of rivers and there are putnaru trees everywhere."

"Wow. Sounds like an entire planet of Hawaii."

"What's Hawaii?"

I pause to double tap a Shock Trooper before replying.

"It's a place on Earth. Nothing but sea, sand and palm trees as far as the eye can see."

To my surprise Ash joins in the conversation.

"So your whole planet is just one climate?"

"Yeah. Palaven has three very large moons that make it wobble in its orbit so pretty much everywhere gets the same amount of sun exposure. We have some rocky mountains in the centre of some of the continents and around the coast it's a little different. I always loved the coast as a kid. Turians can't swim worth a damn but the ocean only comes up to waist height up to a kilometre offshore. If you find a quiet section you can just sit down and drink the sea."

"You could never do that in an ocean on Earth. They're salty."

"Really? Why do you put salt in your oceans?"

Cesca sets off a biotic explosion that reduces a Geth to shrapnel, then finishes off two more with pistol fire.

"They're naturally salty. But even if they weren't, pretty much through the entirety of the 20th century and most of the 21st we really didn't take good care of our oceans. They got pretty heavily polluted and they're still not fully cleaned up."

"Wow." Garrus headshots a Geth platform at the other end of the hall. "You seriously dumped waste in your oceans?"

Ash cuts in again.

"Compared to Tuchanka it's a paradise."

I think I recognise this area.

"Woah, woah. Ssh."

Everyone shushes.

"Listen."

Straining our ears we can hear the digital chattering of Geth platforms up ahead. A lot of Geth platforms.

"Good ear Ivan. Garrus?"

Garrus takes off his helmet and experimentally sniffs the air.

"I'm not smelling any Krogan, but plenty of Geth."

As he fits his helmet back on Cesca starts her tactical briefing.

"Alright. Same as before. Me and Ivan will go in first, immobilise as many as we can with biotics. Ash, Garrus, headshots. If we come across a heavy then Garrus, overload its shields. Let's go."

Cesca is first around the corner, swiftly followed by me in my heavier armour, then Garrus and Ash bring up the rear. The first thing we see are four recon drones. I snap-fire my entire clip at them, taking down one and clipping another one, while Cesca takes two down cleanly with precise double taps, then finishes off the one I clipped with a single bullet. As we reload our pistols she shakes her head.

"We need to work on your aim."

I pause to biotically smash a trooper against the ceiling before replying.

"Aim schmaim."

She chuckles as she holds up two more troopers, a double sniper rifle shot ringing out as Garrus and Ash pull a simultaneous execution. We head up over the bridge section in the centre of the room. Wait. Weren't we supposed to pass that weird glowy orb thing? Huh.

As if on cue, Ash pipes up again.

"What the hell is that?"

Okay, there's the orb. It's one heck of a lot bigger than it was in the game

"It looks like a religious idol of some sort. Tali did say the Geth revere the Reapers as gods."

Garrus sounds thoughtful as he speaks.

"I always thought of the Geth just as machines. If they have a religion I wonder what else they have. Families? Homes?"

Cesca immediately jumps in.

"It doesn't matter. What is important is that they want to kill us, so we need to kill them. End of story."

She leans over cover and plucks two Geth into the air as Ash and Garrus snipe them. On a hunch I send a biotic throw flying at the glowing orb. It detonates with an almighty boom, neatly vaporising any nearby Geth and taking a chunk out of the Geth ship's landing claw, that then proceeds to fall off, dislodging the rest of the ship. As it falls off the building Ash whoops excitedly.

"Nice!"

There is a resounding explosion as the Geth ship becomes intimately acquainted with the ground. As soon as it is gone the comm crackles.

"Commander, are you there?"

"Joker. What's happening?"

"The colonists have gone insane! They're banging on the Normandy's hull, shooting shotguns at us, the works. I've had to put up our kinetic barriers."

"Alright, sit tight Joker. We're on our way back."

Another signal comes in.

"Shepard? You there? Please, pick up."

"What's up, Kaidan?"

"It's the colonists. They've gone crazy! And there are these weird zombie things running around."

"Husks?"

"No, these are different. They spit acid at you. We sealed ourselves in the medbay but please hurry. Wrex keeps complaining about being hungry and I think he's going to eat me."

A familiar gravelly voice joins in the conversation.

"He's not joking. I'm a Krogan biotic. A pyjak like Kaidan's a snack to me."

"Alright. Sit tight, both of you. Wrex, no eating Kaidan. How's Tali?"

"Still unconscious but she's doing fine. But it would be better for everyone if Chakwas took a look at her sooner rather than later."

"We're on our way. Shepard out."

Cesca turns to us.

"About face and double time it back to the Mako."

When we get back to the Mako we find Lizbeth waiting for us.

"Commander, thank God you ..."

"You lied to us. Get in."

"What? But I ..."

Unwilling to put up with her whining, Garrus picks her up by the neck of her uniform and unceremoniously tosses her into the Mako before scrambling into the gun turret. I open a private channel to Ash.

"Good cop bad cop?"

A pause. Then:

"I'm good cop."

We get into the Mako and sit opposite the terrified Lizbeth. I had my helmets equipped with voice distorters that make me sound like one of the Cerberus guys from the third game and I switch them on, lending me a faceless menace as Ash takes off her helmet and brushes her brown hair out of her eyes.

"Lizbeth, we need to know everything you know about the Thorian."

I decide to try the monosyllabic approach.

"Now."

The poor girl squeaks and spills the beans. There isn't anything I don't know there so I tune her out, instead desperately wracking my brains for a decent Latin motto for our tattoos. I am interrupted from my musings by Lizbeth's excited chattering.

"That's my mum! Stop!"

The Mako comes to a halt and Lizbeth jumps out, running down a ramp. Cesca motions for us to follow her. Descending the ramp I see that son of a bitch Ethan Jeong brandishing his pistol so I decide to make an entrance. I never liked the guy anyway.

I march right out into the encampment, shoving aside the ExoGeni security as I stomp right up to the tiny Asian bastard.

"ETHAN JEONG!" My external speakers and vocal distorters are set to maximum, turning my voice into an unearthly roar. I place my foot on his chest and push him down to fall on his back, my foot going with him to pin him to the ground. My sword blurs its way into my hand, point levelled at his throat. "I know your type. You are the pencil pushers, the accountants. To people like you, lives are just numbers on a balance sheet. You are responsible for the enslavement of the population of Zhu's Hope. I know ExoGeni have ordered you to purge the colony, and you know that with us here that's never going to happen. Like it or not, your company secrets are out in the open now. I'm sure the Citadel Council will be fascinated to hear what you've been up to."

Cesca comes up in front of me and tilts my chin up with her hand. My helmet looks into her mask for a second and I step back, letting Jeong scramble to his feet. She opens a private channel to me.

"What the fuck was that?" She sounds furious.

"You saw how he was waving that pistol around, you heard what he was saying. He thought he had the power. We needed to dispel that notion. Would you rather I shot him?"

Her voice softens a little.

"Just a little heads up next time would be nice."

"Sorry Cesca."

She looks back down at Jeong. I know the day she doesn't let me call her Cesca is the day I've overstepped the mark.

"My colleague speaks for all of us. Like it or not, your company can't hide any more."

An older woman runs up to us.

"You were at the headquarters! Did you find any clue what happened to ..."

She is interrupted by an excited squeal.

"Mum!"

Lizbeth hurtles past us and into her mother's arms. As touching as the reunion is, we don't have time for it.

"Lizbeth. We need a non-lethal method of disabling the subverted colonists. Any ideas?"

She looks around at Cesca.

"The Thorian controls them using plant spores. A powerful gaseous herbicide like Tusenma-C should kill off the spores and knock out the colonists, but leave them unharmed when they wake up."

Ash looks skeptical.

"We need a decent delivery system."

I gesture towards the grenades that adorn our belts.

"If we stuff it in concussion grenades it should do the trick."

"Right. Mum, do you have any stocks of Tusenma-C?"

"Yes, plenty, but what's going on?"

"I'll explain later, but right now we need that chemical."

It turns out modding grenades is complex. First you have to unscrew the panel, then remove whatever detonator is already in there, replace it with a tiny amount of this nerve gas stuff, realign the detonation pins and then screw the damn thing back together. Even roping in a couple of ExoGeni guys to help it takes a good fifteen minutes for us to mod all our grenades. But finally we're done.

One short Mako ride later and we are standing outside the garage. A single Creeper is there to greet us, a creeper Ash introduces to her shotgun. Cesca turns to us and starts giving out orders.

"Alright. Ash, Ivan take point. Ash, use your shotgun and Ivan, use your sword if they get close enough. I'll be right behind you. Garrus, take our six. If you see a Creeper coming, shoot it. Use your assault rifle, volume of fire is what we need. There will be no shooting the colonists unless there is no alternative. Ash, you've got the best arm so you're on grenade duty. Let's move."

The bay door opens. There are Creepers inside. A lot of Creepers.

"Open fire!"


	6. Chapter 6

Just like so many other things in the game, it really doesn't do the Creepers justice. There really is only one way to describe them.

They're creepy.

I can clearly see the woody parts of their construction, with what looks like vines slithering and pulsating beneath their organic wickerwork. The wooden blades on their hands and the acrid stench emanating from their acid glands serve to make them genuinely terrifying. PTSD, here I come.

I am broken from my reverie by the roar of Ash's shotgun as it obliterates the nearest Creeper. I use my biotics to keep them at bay while Ash blasts at them, and somewhere behind us I can hear. Cesca and Garrus doing the same thing. Just when we've settled into a rhythm it is complicated by the pinging of bullets off our barriers as three colonists start firing at us with pistols and shotguns. At this range they really can't do much in the way of damage, with their shoddy weapons and poor aim, but it's enough to throw us off our stride. I release a biotic burst that knocks three Creepers off their feet then open a comm channel.

"Me and Ash are going to get within grenade range of the shooters! If you can keep those Creepers off our asses I'd really appreciate it!"

Without waiting for a reply I signal Ash.

"Move up their left flank. I'll charge up the centre and draw their fire."

"Understood."

Good to see she wasn't letting her bitchiness compromise our ability to work as a team.

I keep my sword in one hand and biotically fend off Creepers with the other while I charge at the controlled colonists's position. They start panic-firing at me, their shoddy aim and my superior barriers keeping me safe as I close the range. The Creepers seem to have shifted all their attention to me, leaving Cesca and Garrus free to cut them down with assault rifle fire and biotics as they lumber toward me. As I get closer more and more of the colonist's rounds are hitting me and my barrier has dropped below 50% when Ash finally tosses her grenade. The gas cloud envelops the colonists, panic fire still issuing out for a couple of seconds then disappearing as the three colonists collapse to the floor, unconscious. I turn and decapitate two Creepers with one swing of my sword, then unleash a biotic blast that knocks them flying backwards to be shredded by the chattering of Cesca and Garrus's assault rifles and the thundering boom of Ash's shotgun.

Making our way deeper into the colony, we blow through more Creepers and knock out more colonists. It's starting to feel like I'm going to get repetitive strain injury in my trigger finger by the time we make it to the medbay. Cesca bangs on the door.

"Oy. Wrex, open up. It's us."

The door opens to reveal a very relieved looking Krogan.

"Shepard! Took you long enough."

"Suck it up, Wrex. There should be a way to the Thorian hidden under the freighter. We can use the cargo crane to open it up."

I bend down to check on Tali. She is still out cold but my biometrics are showing that she is at least alive. I feel a hand on my wrist and look up to see Cesca standing over me.

"I'm taking Ash and Wrex to eliminate the Thorian. I need you and Garrus to get the wounded back to the Normandy. Take some gas grenades."

I can't help but feel a little put out that she isn't taking me with her but looking at Tali, lying there vulnerable, I understand how important getting her back to the Normandy is. Almost on cue she starts to stir and almost immediately cries out, clutching at her stomach. I gently take her wrist and lay her hand at her side.

"Woah, woah Tali. Just lie still. I'll take you back to the Normandy in a sec."

She starts trying to say something.

"Ga ... Gar ..."

"Ssh. Don't try to talk. I'll give you a local anaesthetic for the pain, okay?"

She nods weakly as Garrus comes over to kneel beside her. She reaches for him and he takes her hand in his, speaking in his rumbling, flanging voice.

"We'll get you out of here Tali."

Cesca looks over us then nods.

"You ready?"

I look back at her.

"Cesca. Be careful down there. We've got no idea what you're charging into."

She rests her hand on my pauldron and I am certain that beneath her mask she is smiling.

"You be careful too. Kaidan and Tali are depending on you. Don't let them down."

"I won't."

"I know."

Garrus gently picks up Tali, cradling her against his chest as Kaidan throws his arm around my shoulders. Cesca addresses all of us.

"Me, Ash and Wrex will move out first and draw their attention. Ivan, Garrus, get the wounded back to the Normandy. Avoid combat if possible. Good luck."

The three of them peel off first and moments later we hear sporadic gunfire as they make their way towards the Thorian. As soon as they're out of sight the four of us set off, moving slowly. Our journey is largely uneventful until we reach the Normandy itself. There are ten colonists banging on the hull and a good number of Creepers hanging around outside. I hold up my hand and we come to a halt.

"Alright. Garrus, put Tali down. Kaidan, stay with her. On my word, lob all the grenades at the colonists, then cover me while I engage the zombies. Ready?"

Garrus gently sets Tali down out of sight and Kaidan pulls out his pistol, looking determined as he sits down next to her although I notice the wince as his broken leg knocks against a rock.

"Kaidan. If we don't make it, no heroics. Wait for Shepard. Clear?"

"Crystal."

"Ready Garrus?"

He nods.

"And go."

We both toss our grenades at the tightly clustered colonists, six simultaneous puffs of gas knocking them all out and taking out a couple of Creepers in the blast radius as well. I move forward a bit and unsling my sword, holding it one handed while I open up with my pistol and biotics and Garrus hoses them down with assault rifle fire, incendiary bullets ripping through them. By the time they get within melee range there are only four left. I catch the first heavy swing on my pauldron, smashing the offending Creeper in the face with my pistol before cutting another one in half with my sword. The other two start puking their acid at me. I decapitate one before it can release its bile then shoulder barge the other, knocking it flat before executing it with a stomp to the chest that crunches through it.

"Hey Joker. We solved your pest problem."

The pilot sounds relieved.

"Oh, thank God. They were scratching my beautiful paintwork."

"Alright, open up. Kaidan and Tali are wounded, we need to get them to Chakwas ASAP."

I look around and see Garrus carrying Tali towards me, Kaidan hobbling along with an arm around the Turian's broad shoulders as the airlock hisses open.

In the medbay, Garrus lays Tali down on a bed as Dr. Chakwas starts fussing, immediately kicking me and Garrus out as she gets to work treating the two wounded. As soon as she does so I go back into my cabin and change out of my armour, putting on one of the Alliance uniforms before crashing down on my bed. Thirty seconds later I am roused by the overwhelming smell of varren innards issuing from the muck smeared across the front of my heavy armour. I take a water jet and start washing the gunk off in the shower, watching the dried mixture of blood and digestive fluid spiral down the plughole, then dry it off with a blast of air and replace it in the locker. The filtration system has already purified the air, leaving it once again bereft of any scent save the slight metallic tang it always has. With that done I need to find another distraction. Because I am worried.

I know I shouldn't feel this, just as I know I don't belong in this time. But it feels as if I should be fighting alongside Cesca, like it's my place. I can't explain it. What if she gets enthralled by the Thorian? What if she gets overwhelmed by Creepers? This isn't a computer game. She can't continue from the last save point. If she dies, she stays dead. In order to stave off the worry and fear I start looking up the biology of various species. Turian, Salarian, Krogan, the list goes on. Weak spots, skeletal structure, places where the blade of a sword can guarantee a quick, clean kill. Surprisingly the extranet search 'how to kill a krogan with a sword' generated over two million hits, but the vast majority of those referenced a popular comedy show about three hilariously incompetent Elcor pirates. I distract myself for around thirty minutes with an episode of the show and then resume my studies. It really is quite funny.

I am distracted by the VI announcing Cesca is back on board and I feel the tension draining out of me. She's safe. Moments later I hear her voice over the comm.

"Attention ground team. Feros debriefing is in two hours."

Two hours. So I have two hours to kill.

About twenty minutes in there is a knock on the door.

"It's open."

Cesca steps through, looking around the room before her eyes alight on me. Her hair is loose and damp, indicating she's just been in the shower, and she's wearing her Alliance uniform trousers and boots with a dark red tank top. She smiles at me.

"Hey Ivan."

I smile back.

"Hey Cesca. How are you doing?"

She goes to perch on the end of my bed again.

"Alright, I guess."

I can tell she's lying. When she has her Commander Shepard going on she's as stonefaced as they come but when the softer side starts to come out she's surprisingly easy to read.

"Come on Cesca. That's not how it works."

She looks slightly taken aback as I press on.

"Out there in the big wide world you're the great and indestructible Commander Shepard, and I'm your loyal follower. In here, you're Cesca. I'm Ivan. We're friends. So if you have something on your mind, now's the time to speak it."

She lets out a sigh and seems to slump a little, briefly hanging her head.

"Ever since I took command of the Normandy I've been waiting for somebody to say that."

I come to sit beside her on the bed.

"So what's up?"

She sounds like she's hovering between angry and sad when she speaks.

"When we were going to destroy the Thorian we came across Fai Dan. He said the Thorian was in his head, that it was telling him to kill us. He had a gun, and he said he wouldn't hurt us, and then ..."

She puts one hand across her mouth and lets out a choking sob, then sniffs and gulps. When she next speaks her voice is a hoarse whisper.

"I'm sorry ... I didn't want anyone to see me like this."

I put a hand under her chin and tilt her face up to face mine.

"Come on, Cesca. This is good. If you bottle all this up it won't do you any benefit."

She doesn't try to hold back now, letting the tears flow free as she gasps out her fears and regrets.

"I could see what he was doing. I froze up. I still had plenty of gas grenades left. I could have stopped him with biotics, shot the gun right out of his hand, but I just stood there and watched him kill himself for me. I never wanted ... Oh God ..."

She looks so lost and alone, a far cry from the brave Commander Shepard of the games. I briefly wonder. In the games, did Commander Shepard ever cry? Was there someone like me, a shoulder to cry on, or did she just lock herself in her cabin and weep alone? In a way it's quite comforting knowing that she's only human like the rest of us ... well, I mean she's not a machine. Expressions like only human, humanity as a synonym for morality or compassion, they are all archaic in the Mass Effect world. As I watch her crying I do the only thing that makes sense for me to do in that situation.

I wrap my arms around her and hold her as she weeps, her tears soaking into my shirt. I know I said it's healthy to cry, but I'm surprised she has any tears left. She's been going for a good fifteen minutes, quietly shedding tears, the only sound being the odd choking sob. Eventually her tears dry up and she pulls away, rubbing her face.

"Thank you, Ivan."

"What for?"

"For not judging me."

I can't think of anything to say so I settle for a smile.

"Okay. I have a debriefing to get to. So do you, for that matter. Come on."

###

I can't sleep. Try as I might it's just not happening. It's not nightmares or PTSD or anything like that, just good old fashioned chronic insomnia, one of the few conditions they still haven't managed to cure in 2183. It's around three in the morning when I finally give up and decide to go for a wander. Gone are the days when the ship needed to be fully manned at all times - apart from a skeleton crew down in Engineering the ship can fly solely on VI autopilot, with the crew only being roused in case of emergency. So the mess is mostly depopulated.

Spoke too soon. Up ahead I can see a faint light coming from behind the partition in the mess hall. Straining my ears I can hear two faint voices, one of them the soft voice of Cesca, the other the slightly more strident voice of Ash, strangely subdued when compared to her usual brash manner. Against my better judgement I stop to listen to the conversation.

"I ... I dunno. First Eden Prime, now this ... My entire unit was wiped out on Eden Prime by twelve Geth. Saren's got an entire army of them, plus a crap-ton of angry Krogan to boot. What chance do we have against those kinds of odds?"

"Look Ash. I know that when you put it like that it doesn't sound so great. But think of it like this. We've only got one frigate. But it's the most advanced frigate in the galaxy, with the best pilot the Alliance has ever produced behind the controls. We've only got seven members of the ground team, but they are an experienced Lieutenant, skilled in biotics and tech, one of the finest Marines I've ever seen, and yes, you are, a girl who even among the Quarians is considered to be a tech genius, the best sharpshooter I've ever heard of and one of the most powerful human biotics out there, one who could give an N7 Slayer the runaround in a swordfight."

"And the first human Spectre, who could kick the ass of any of the above."

"Well yes, there is that too. But you see, the situation isn't really hopeless. On Feros, we faced down an army of Geth, including a dropship, multiple pissed off Krogan, plant zombies and enthralled colonists, coming out with only two wounded and no casualties on the ground team."

"So, um, Commander, what do you make of Ivan?"

"What do you mean?"

Oh this I want to hear.

"I mean I can't figure him out. One moment he can be taking the piss or making idle conversation in the middle of a warzone and the next, I don't know, if I didn't know better I'd say he knows what's around the corner. You know, like he knows where the Geth are. And even though he's a civilian, he's got biotics that put the Lieutenant to shame. Plus, you see his armour selection for the mission? Heavy armour, not the best choice against Geth, but against Krogan, varren, Creepers? It was perfect, but how could he know we were going to be up against those things?"

There is a slight pause.

"I understand your concerns, but I trust Ivan implicitly. If he has some way to anticipate what's going to happen on a mission, then that's an advantage that gives us an edge against Saren."

"Alright Commander. Just don't be offended if I keep an eye on him. Just in case."

I choose that moment to make my entrance.

"Just in case what?"

I saunter in and head for the coffeemaker. Say what you will about the Normandy but the coffee is amazing. Cesca looks mildly amused while Ash goes beetroot red.

"How long have you been listening in?"

I look back over at the table at Cesca's measured expression. She knows exactly how long I was standing there.

"Since Ash's entire unit was wiped out by twelve Geth. And you're right. Sometimes I just get a feeling about some things. I've learned the hard way to listen to said feelings. Coffee?"

Cesca nods, a smile breaking forth on her face.

"Milk, no sugar. Thanks."

"Ash?"

"Ah, just coffee. No milk or sugar."

I bring over three steaming mugs of coffee, one in each hand and one floating biotically in front of me. Cesca plucks mine out of the air and sets it down as I put the two mugs down in front of the two women. We drink our coffees in companionable silence before Ash excuses herself, heading to the elevator and leaving me alone with Cesca. After a while I feel the need to speak up.

"You know, it didn't feel right, you going off to fight the Thorian without me."

She nods slowly.

"It got pretty hot down there. We could have used your instincts. But I needed to know that Kaidan and Tali were safe. I knew I could trust you and Garrus to get them to the Normandy unharmed."

Her quiet confidence in my abilities brings a smile to my face. But she isn't done.

"I really don't know why. I mean, I hardly know you. I just feel like I can trust you."

"The feeling's mutual."

We sit there for a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

When I wake up, it's one pm. Cursing, I hurriedly dress and head out to the mess hall where the ground team are having lunch. As I enter they all look around. Garrus is the first to speak.

"Ivan, good to see you conscious. The table was a little lonely."

I look around. Tali's still recovering from her surgery in the medbay, Wrex never eats with the rest of the team, so that leaves Garrus, Kaidan, Ash and Cesca. Except Cesca's not here.

"Any idea where the Commander is?"

In my still-waking state my brain fails to engage while words leave my mouth.

"Cesca's probably still asleep. We were up pretty late last night."

Around the table, jaws drop as the implications of what I just said finally force their way through my tired brain. Anything I say will surely compound the inevitable rumours so I just act naturally and grab myself a sandwich before plopping down on a seat. Five minutes later Cesca appears out of her cabin, hair a mess and rubbing sleep out of her eyes as she smiles.

"Hey Ivan. Garrus, Ash, Kaidan."

She pours herself a cup of coffee and comes to sit next to me, grinning ear to ear. Ash looks slightly suspicious.

"What's got you so cheerful, Commander?"

She airily waves her hand.

"Nothing in particular."

Ash's glare momentarily shifts to me before dropping back to her lunch, while Garrus fixes me with a shit-eating grin and what appears to be a wink. Oh crap. Cesca bulls ahead, seemingly unreceptive of the rumours that are already starting to ferment.

"So I take it we're still on course for the Citadel?"

Kaidan nods.

"Two relay jumps to go. Our ETA is about 1630."

"How's Tali?"

This time it's Garrus who replies.

"She's awake, but the doc ordered that she stay in the medbay for observation until we reach the Citadel. You can pop in and visit her if you like."

Both me and Cesca immediately get up and speed-walk over to the medbay. When we push through the doors we see Tali sitting despondently on the end of a bed, a catcher's mitt on one hand as she bounces a ball off the wall opposite her. We can't help but laugh when we see it. She turns and looks at us quizzically.

"What? Kaidan said it was something humans do to alleviate boredom."

"Never mind." Cesca pauses to wipe a tear from her face, then cracks up again. I finally manage to pull myself together.

"I'm glad you're doing okay, Tali. You had us worried back there."

She waves her hand and flops back down on the bed.

"It'll take more than a Krogan to keep me down. Still aches like a bosh'tet though."

"I'll bet. Chucky back there really did a number on your ribcage."

"How bad was it?"

"Ah," I check my Omnitool, "Six ribs broken, four fractured, sternum cracked in three places, compression trauma to the left lung, heart and umpar ... The hell is an umpar?"

"Oh, that's not so bad."

Dr. Chakwas chooses that moment to make an appearance.

"I'm glad to see you're recovering, Miss Zorah. An umpar fills the function of the human liver and kidneys for Turians and Quarians, in response to your question. Also, Krogan have two, but blood is only diverted through them in case their three kidneys, two livers and their helical tubules are all disabled. How are you feeling?"

Tali rubs her chest.

"My chest aches quite a lot but I can move around fine."

"The aching is just your immune system trying to figure out what to make of the bone weave I put on your ribs. It's one of the few situations a Quarian immune system is advantageous - if it was at full strength that amount of bone weaving would leave you crippled for days."

"Oh. Ok."

Dr. Chakwas disappears off into the store room, leaving us alone with Tali. Cesca sits down next to her.

"So you're sure you're fine? If you need to talk about anything just come and find me."

She squeezes Cesca's hand a little tightly.

"Seeing that Krogan ... I was sure I was going to die. It was so scary. But I'm okay now. Thanks."

"Anytime, Tali."

We sit for a few minutes, chatting. Tali tells us about life on the Migrant Fleet and in turn we talk about human culture and customs. Eventually Dr. Chakwas swoops in and shoos us out, telling Tali she needs rest if she wants to be mobile by the time we get to the Citadel.

We head back out to the mess hall to find that everyone has already left. I nudge her.

"Hey Cesca. You ever fence?"

"A little, yeah. It was mandatory in ICT. You want to go a few?"

"Why not? If we put on armour and don't turn the blade vibrator on we don't have to worry about accidentally killing each other."

She grins at me.

"Go fetch armour and swords. I'll meet you in the cargo bay in ten."

She disappears into her cabin and I head down the hallway to mine, quickly putting on my light armour and taking two of my swords out before heading to the elevator.

When I get to the cargo bay, she's already waiting for me and there's a ring of crew members surrounding us, cheering and making bets. Pretending to be unconcerned by the audience I hand her one of the swords and then take up a guard position. She takes her sword and, though she tries to conceal it with slightly unbalanced movements, she immediately takes up a strong guard position also. Clearly she's had a lot more training than she's letting on.

I twirl my sword once in my hand as we size each other up. I've seen how fast and agile she is on the battlefield but this is my element. I am fairly confident my skill will make up for her advantages.

"No biotics for now. Keep it simple."

I am certain that she has a feral grin plastered on her face beneath the mask.

"I can work with that."

Damn, she's quick! She strikes right at my head, and I scramble to duck under it, so off balance I can't take advantage of her momentary overextension as her blade sails past me. She follows it with a catlike spring and turns just in time to see my sharp stab coming for her chest, a stab she deflects clumsily before stepping back, opening up the range. I take up my guard position again, content to let her stay on the offensive.

She comes in to my left, moving so fast all I see is a blur. I neatly sidestep her swing and get in close, slapping her sword arm away as I bring my own blade up to thrust at her abdomen. She twists away from the stab and then rolls, making my backwards chop miss by scant millimetres. She tries to tangle my legs with her foot but I circumvent the problem by jumping, pairing it with a downwards strike that clips her shoulder before she rolls away and springs to her feet.

Her next attack follows the same pattern, swinging in from the left again. I try a different dodge this time, dropping to the floor and rolling straight into her legs, knocking her off balance and catching her with an upwards slash that flips her over my sword to crash on her back. I try to spring on her, pin her down, but she gets her feet up, hammering me in the gut with a two footed kick that sends me flying over her head, smacking onto the floor with the sound of metal on unforgiving metal. Dazed, I spring up and come into a guard position again, shifting a couple of degrees as I get my bearings. Cesca is already on her feet, sword held out in an aggressive stance. I brace myself for her next attack.

As she starts to move forward I suddenly burst into motion, flicking her sword to the side with my own as I shoulder barge her. We go down together and I land on top of her, sword forgotten as I grab her arms just below the elbow and pin them to the floor. I hear Wrex's shout of appreciation as she headbutts me, her mask and my helmet clashing together. She uses the momentary distraction to tangle her legs in mine, twisting her hips to throw me off her. Now she's on top of me, aiming a punch at my neck. I grab her arm as it descends and tear it out from under her, making her collapse onto me. Then milliseconds later I thrust upwards, bridging my torso with enough force to throw her clean off me and into the air. I grab the hilt of a sword, mine or hers I don't know, and leap up, striking out as she lies on her back. The tip of the blade skitters up her torso, starting at her bellybutton and up her chest, over the swell of her breasts and up to her throat.

"You're dead."

The room bursts into cheers and groans as a good deal of money changes hands, seeming like the majority of bidders had bet on Cesca at fairly high odds. I extend my hand and she grips it, but instead of hauling herself up she plants a foot on my chest and flips me over, sending me crashing onto my front as she springs up, jabbing a sword into the back of my neck.

"You're dead too."

The betters break into a heated debate, ignored by us as I spring up and Cesca slaps me on the shoulder, unclipping her mask to reveal her wide smile. Her face is flushed and her hair is sticking to her forehead with sweat. I take off my helmet and run my hand through my equally sweaty hair.

"We're going to need showers before stepping onto the Citadel. C-sec will probably throw us off the station for stinkiness otherwise."

I nod my head, still breathless.

"Showers, yeah."

###

My first time approaching the Citadel from the outside. Damn, it's impressive. Outside, we can see the Asari dreadnought, Destiny Ascension, with its customary escort of three cruisers, one Turian, one Salarian and one Asari. Presumably after the Battle of the Citadel a Human cruiser will be added to the roster as well. A squadron of six Volus Starfire heavy bombing frigates hang in a hexagonal formation off our port bow, their sleek, deadly lines deceptively at odds with the race that operates them. Their lateral thrusters subtly flare, keeping them between us, the nearest warship, and the Turian cruiser behind them. A Salarian light cruiser hangs motionless over Tayseri ward, GARDIAN ultraviolet lasers slowly sweeping in their arcs, scanning for incoming ordinance. I sneak a peek at the name on the side in Salarian glyphs. Veshok. Apparently the Salarians operate twenty ships named Veshok for misinformation purposes. Briefly I wonder if that is Veshok-16, Mordin's ship before he leaves STG. My attention is drawn by an Elcor freighter, an enormous pyramidine construct almost the size of a dreadnought, lumbering into the Citadel, guided by three Turian tugs, before the view is occluded by an Alliance carrier and her escorts, the SSV Einstein. The entirety of Citadel space is swarming with ships of all races, interweaving, intermingling and somehow coexisting. It truly is a beauty to behold.

I hear the door to the cockpit sliding open behind me and then a soft voice with an accent similar to my faint Russian one.

"So many ships. This place is amazing."

I look round.

"How are you feeling, Tali?"

She doesn't respond, enraptured by the sight of the ships. She points to the Elcor freighter.

"Look at that monster! She could house two thousand of my people!" Then she sees the Destiny Ascension. "Keelah, that's a beautiful ship."

Joker nods before replying.

"Yeah, and she's used to haul the three biggest assholes on the Citadel round the galaxy. A waste, if you ask me."

Garrus steps into the cockpit, his Omnitool showing the face of a Turian female he's calling.

"Hey Joker. Think you could do a barrel roll for Solana?"

The world outside the windows spins crazily for a moment before equilibrating. The female Turian on the other end of the line sounds impressed.

"Spirits, that's your new ship? You lucky son of a bitch."

He walks off again and the bridge doors hiss shut behind him. When Tali next speaks her voice has a slightly strange tone to it.

"I wonder who that was."

"That was Solana. His little sister."

"Oh. Okay."

If I didn't know better I'd guess Tali sounded a bit relieved.

Once we have docked we head out onto the Citadel. My first port of call is to visit the armourer to get my heavy armour repaired. The Turian takes one look at my armour and his mandibles flick open so wide it looks like they're about to fall off his head.

"What in the spirits did you do to this armour?"

I blink impassively.

"I hugged a varren."

He looks at the gouges on my armour, then back at me critically.

"It was a big varren."

He chuckles for a second, then calls out and two young-looking Quarians, one male and one female, pop out of thin air wearing matching grey exosuits with acid green shawls.

"Kee, Vel, take this armour and see if you can get rid of these scratches."

The female bends down and peers at the leg.

"Keelah, what happened?"

I run a hand through my hair.

"A varren mistook me for a chew toy."

They both laugh at that and haul my armour into the back room. I raise an eyebrow at the Turian behind the counter.

"Hiring Quarians?"

He frowns.

"That's not a problem, is it?"

I quickly shake my head.

"No, not at all. I'm just surprised, that's all. I thought the majority of Citadel races, Turians in particular, had a thing against Quarians."

He raises his hand.

"If they want to be short-sighted bigots that's fine by me. It just means I get the best engineers on the Citadel. Quarians have this thing they do called Pilgrimage, where they leave the Flotilla and have to return with something of value to the fleet. I run a deal. If a Quarian comes on his or her pilgrimage they can sign a nine month work contract that covers food and board and when their time is up I give them enough credits to buy something of value to complete their pilgrimage. At one point I had twenty Quarians working for me and I was churning out fifty guns a day. They get some crap, these Quarians, but they're great kids."

I have to say, I'm impressed by his generosity.

"Do you sell heavy weapons?"

"I don't have any in stock at the moment but I could have some ready in two days. You looking to buy?"

"My CO is interested. Hold on, I'll give her a call."

I turn away and hit the call function on my Omnitool. The call connects instantly.

"Hey Cesca."

"Ivan! What's up?"

"I found someone who might be able to set us up with heavies. Can you meet me here? The store name is Creative Destructive, off Akira Plaza."

"I'm on my way. I'll bring Tali too, she has some ideas on penetrating Geth shields."

Within three minutes Cesca and Tali are stepping out of a skycar and heading over to the front of the shop. As they step in the store owner cheerily greets them.

"Welcome. I hear from your man here you're in the market for heavy weapons."

Cesca nods.

"Yes we are. Francesca Shepard."

She holds out her hand and the Turian shakes it.

"Adrian Tasserian. Did you have anything particular in mind?"

She nods and leans against the counter.

"We need something that can penetrate the barriers of Geth heavies. Tali here has some data on the shields we're up against."

Tali tags her Omnitool and Adrian calls out over his shoulder.

"Maya!"

A Quarian girl in an aqua blue exosuit appears out of a back room.

"How can I help, Mr. Tasserian? Wait ... Tali!"

Tali holds out her arms.

"Maya!"

The blue-suited girl vaults the counter and hugs Tali as the two girls squeal. When they finally break away their hug she turns to us.

"Maya, I'd like you to meet Commander Shepard and Ivan Borodyov, my shipmates. Commander, Ivan, this is Maya'Sar nar Rayya."

Cesca smiles.

"A pleasure to meet you, Maya. Tali has some data on Geth shielding. We need something that can penetrate it."

Tali starts nattering to her friend as she synced the data between their Omnitools.

"So as soon as we left the Normandy this great big Geth Dropship appeared ..."

I tune the two of them out as Adrian ponders the various weapons we could use.

"Hmm, I assume you're looking for something easily portable, but with enough power to take out one of these Armatures in a single hit. Have you considered the Cain?"

I wander off, exploring the shelves of weapons, and almost bump into a fourth Quarian, this one male and in a black exosuit with white cloth, stacking sniper rifles on shelves and humming to himself. He turns to me with a cheery nod.

"Hi there. My name's Taurn. Can I help you?"

"Hi Taurn. So you're on your pilgrimage?"

He seems momentarily surprised that I know what a Pilgrimage is.

"Yes I am."

"What's working for Adrian like?"

"Mr. Tasserian? He's brilliant. Before I met him everyone here treated me like dirt. Then I ran into this Krogan, Jorgal Hatak. He found me in an alleyway, brought me to this place. He and Mr. Tasserian go way back. So Mr. Tasserian got me a contract. I've been here for five months now and I'm training in gunsmithing. It's brilliant, really challenging work but my teacher's one of the best. See this Widow?"

He proudly holds up a sniper rifle.

"I made the casing and barrel for it."

I take the weapon and look it over. The casing is a sleek black with a stylised white snake running around it and Taurn's name in Keelish on the stock. The barrel is smooth and cleanly constructed, covered in intricate heat dissipator vanes. Taurn jabbers on, pride in his voice.

"I added in those heat dissipators myself. They extend the barrel life by 30%."

I nod and run my fingers along the weapon before handing it back to him.

"That's a beautiful gun. I heard Widows were protected by FRM tech though."

He nods enthusiastically.

"Yes, that's why they're so expensive. Each one has to be hand made."

"So asides from you, Maya, Kee and Vel, who else works for Mr. Tasserian?"

Taurn ponders the question for a moment.

"Well, there's Nary, she's almost done her stint but I thibk she's going to stay on for a second contract, there's Kriyannu and Ruthien, they're Elcor delivery men, and Lisko Vay, our Volus accountant, and also Eramis, Mr. Tasserian's daughter and pilot. There was also Vake, but he headed back to the Flotilla last month. I heard he bought a quarter ton of Element Zero back as his Pilgrimage gift."

"Wow. That must have been expensive."

"Yeah. At the end of our contract, we get one hundred thousand credits each, plus a ride back to the Flotilla with Eramis. When I'm done, I think I'm going to buy one of the guns I made and then offer my skills as a gunsmith to the Penthanar. That's the Marine headquarters ship for the Flotilla, a defunct Turian dreadnought we rescued from the scrapyard."

I look over the guns as Taurn continues to stack the shelves. They really are expertly constructed.

"So you know a lot about guns then?"

"Not as much as Mr. Tasserian, but I know plenty."

"Okay, maybe you can help me. I'm looking for a decently sized gun. At the moment, all I've got is a pistol, which really isn't good enough against Geth."

His eyes widen.

"You fight Geth?"

"All the time. Since Eden Prime we've been hounding them all over the Traverse. So I'm looking for something that's got decent stopping power and a high rate of fire, but isn't too heavy. I'm a biotic, and heavy weapons slow down my abilities."

He looks at me thoughtfully.

"Okay. Hmm. What range are you looking for?"

"Ah, mid range mostly, but some long range ability wouldn't go amiss."

"Can you show me your firing stance?"

I pick up an assault rifle off a rack and hold it in the way that feels natural, the stock jammed into my shoulder, sighting along the barrel. Taurn walks around me, occasionally nodding.

"You'll want something with little recoil. Anything too heavy and the stock will keep slipping off your shoulder."

He goes over to a weapons rack and takes out a rifle.

"This is an M-96 Mattock marksman rifle. Lightweight, semi automatic, precise when fired slowly, deadly when fired quickly."

The rifle fits snugly in my shoulder and I sight down the barrel, already enamoured.

"How much?"

"Fifteen thousand credits."

Fifteen thousand is a lot but it's well within my price range. I take it to the counter and Taurn hops behind it, transferring my credits to the store's server and packaging the rifle.

"Where do you want this delivered?"

"The Normandy. Bay D24, Alliance docks."

"Right away."

I look over at Cesca and Tali. Their heads are bent over a weapon, semi-disassembled on the counter as Adrian points out something in its innards. I turn back to Taurn.

"Hey Taurn. Would you mind showing me around the back? I've never seen a gun workshop before."

He glances over at Adrian, who waves his hand airily.

"Go ahead."

He leads me around the counter into the back room where the twins, Kee and Vel, are tutting over the state of my armour.

"Eighteen hours it took to make this, and he's wrecked it inside a week. Scratches on the back, scorch marks and acid burns on the shoulders, hairline cracks across the lower part of the chestplate, what the hell has he been doing?"

I can't resist answering them.

"I was on Feros."

They both spin around. I walk up to them and start gesticulating at my armour.

"These big scorch marks? Near miss from the plasma cannon of a Geth Dropship. Scratches on the back? I was jumped on by an alpha varren. The cracks on the chestplate are probably from where a Krogan punched me twice in the gut, the acid burns are from the local flora and these stress fractures are from when I biotically detonated a solid kilo of eezo. Yeah, I think that's about it. I'll be a regular customer here, I think."

The twins and Taurn stare at me dumbly for a second or two.

"Uh, okay. We'll get to fixing it."

I smile as I follow Taurn into the main workshop. There are guns everywhere, all in various states of disassembly. A Quarian girl in a sandy coloured exosuit with a deep red shawl and swirling red patterns across her suit is standing by one of the benches, humming cheerfully to herself as she deftly shapes a metal lump, teasing a shotgun casing out of the alloy while the innards of the weapon lie in a neat stack on one end of the workbench. Taurn whispers to me almost reverently.

"That's Nary. Nobody makes them quite like she does."

She looks up and sees us.

"Hey Taurn. Who's this?"

"This is Ivan." He pauses as if something just occurred to him. "Ivan, how many Geth platforms have you destroyed?"

I check my battle record on my Omnitool.

"Thirty four. Why?"

Taurn shrugs.

"If you take out more than fifty you get the title Gethbane. It's one of the highest honours the Quarian people can bestow."

I think about it for a second.

"Ivan Gethbane. It does have a nice ring to it, but I'm not quite there yet."

She returns her attention to the shotgun.

"Who's that one for?"

She looks up at Taurn's question.

"It's Hatak's birthday present. His six hundredth is in fourteen days."

Taurn and Nary get absorbed in discussing the Krogan's birthday celebration and I wander around, looking at some of the designs sitting on the benches. I spot something in a pile marked 'DISPOSAL' in a Turian script and in Keelish.

"What's this?"

Taurn looks up and frowns.

"That's a prototype for a laser guided grenade launcher. We could never get the grenades to follow the laser path though so we kind of gave up."

I look at the laser ports. Four of them, arranged around the mouth of the fat barrel. The weapon looks familiar somehow ...

"Did you consider another use for the lasers? Cooling, perhaps?"

At that, Nary looks up.

"Why would you put cooling lasers on a grenade launcher?"

"For cryo grenades."

Nary's eyes narrow for a moment, then widen.

"You know, I think you may be onto something."

And just like that I invented the M-622 Avalanche.

"I'll leave you to ruminate on that for a while. I should get going anyway."

The two Quarians don't hear me, jabbering excitedly as I quietly slip out.

Back outside, Cesca and Adrian are shaking hands as Tali and Maya chat excitedly.

"I'll have them delivered to the Normandy as soon as the modifications are done. In the meantime, feel free to browse our selection. All our weapons are handmade to the finest quality."

I nudge Cesca in the ribs.

"Maybe you could replace that crappy Avenger the Alliance has you running around with. After all, you are a Spectre now."

She crosses her eyes and sticks her tongue out at me.

"I certainly am glad the safety of the galaxy is in the hands of such a mature and responsible woman."

She flips me the bird over her shoulder as she goes to browse the selection of rifles. Ah, good times. I'm on the Citadel, buying weapons with two beautiful girls. Paradise.

###

The bar is surprisingly empty as we arrive. Me and Cesca had spent the afternoon sightseeing with Kaidan and Ash and now we were meeting the crew at Dex's, a bar Garrus swears by on Zakera ward. As we enter we see Wrex and Tali over by the bar, with Wrex staring down a snooty Asari bartender.

"Let me tell you a joke," growled the mighty Wrex. "A Krogan and a Quarian walk into a bar. The up-herself Asari bartender refuses to serve the Quarian. The Krogan tears the tentacles off her head, stabs them through her eyes and then slams her head against the bar till her brains dribble out her butthole. That's hilarious."

The quaking Asari immediately pulls out a bottle of Turian brandy and pours some into a sterile vessel. Wrex roars with laughter.

"What did I tell you Tali. Anyone gives you shit, point me at them. On Tuchanka we look out for our krannt."

I walk up and slide into the seat next to Wrex.

"Good job you didn't headbutt her, otherwise she'd be breathing through her asshole and taking her shoes off to watch a vid."

The whole team cracks up at that. An enormous Krogan lumbers in from the back room.

"Wrex?"

Wrex stands and gives a shout of friendly recognition.

"Dex!"

Like Wrex, Dex has blood red eyes but his crest is tinged more purple than Wrex's. The two of them clash the tips of their crests together in the khajhat, the form of headbutt that denotes respect for an old friend.

"Shepard, meet Dex. Dex, this is Shepard. Dex was part of my krannt during my Rite."

Since I am the only one who knows what he's talking about I cut in.

"So you helped bring down a Thresher Maw on foot?"

"Hah! Yeah. Reina, take stock. I've got this."

The grateful Asari disappears off into the back room.

"I've still got the blaster I used during that fight."

He pulls out a battered looking Graal Spike Thrower from under the counter. Wrex strokes the gun almost lovingly.

"I remember this thing. Always took forever to wind up."

"Yeah. You kept yelling at me to get out from behind that goddamn rock and fire already, and I was cussing at you the whole time."

We leave the old war buddies to catch up and take seats around a large table, Tali smugly sipping her brandy as we all order from a much politer Asari waitress. The bar is starting to fill up now, a couple of Turians, a group of Humans and Asari, two Hanar, a handful of Batarians, a couple more Humans, three Salarians, a Krogan that immediately goes over and greets Wrex and Dex, the list goes on. Human and Asari waitresses flit between the tables, delivering drinks and bowls of nuts. Once the bar is almost at bursting point Dex walks up onto the stage at one end of the room, to hoots and cheers from several of the patrons.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Club Night at Dex's!" The audience erupts into applause. "Here today we have two very special guests. The first is my oldest friend and battle companion, Urdnot Wrex!" Wrex looks slightly embarrassed as the room gives him a round of enthusiastic applause. "And also here tonight, gracing my humble establishment with her presence, the first Human Spectre, Commander Shepard herself!" Cesca smiles and waves as every Human in the room starts cheering. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, do I have a show for you! Please welcome the Marae sisters!"

Three Asari in white dresses take to the stage, their bodies moving in perfect synchronisation as they start to dance to a slow, musical beat. Their movements are hypnotic. Every man in the bar, as well as the majority of the women, stare mesmerised at the pulsing motions as one of them holds up her hand, the other athletically leaping up to balance one handed upside down on the upraised arm, the sole of one of her high heeled boots slowly sliding down her other leg that points perfectly vertically into the air. The other one springs up, a blue flash as she biotically propels herself up to balance perfectly on the pointed toes of her sister as she reaches up for something on the ceiling, extending her body with an ethereal grace. The thing on the ceiling begins to descend, revealing itself to be a metal pole that the third sister slowly spirals around as it lowers itself almost glacially to the floor. The other two sisters drop to the floor, legs splayed in the splits as they sensually gyrate their upper bodies. As the pole makes contact with the ground all three flare their biotics in a rush that blows shreds of material away from their bodies, the shreds of white falling on the mesmerised audience as the remainder of the outfits repigment themselves to a lustrous green. The dresses are slightly shorter, only knee length now, the thigh high boots clearly visible. The sleeves have gone from the dresses as well and the neck line is slightly lower cut, revealing the top curves of their breasts as their movements become slightly more energetic. I find it almost impossible to look away, enraptured by their alien beauty as all three of them swing on the pole, moving their legs in an intricate dance as they slowly revolve. One of them drops to the ground, one leg bent beneath her and the other one thrown out straight to the side, exposing the barest glimmer of azure thigh as she sensually ran her hand up her leg, the intensity of her gaze almost flooring me with its raw heat. I hear an exaggerated sigh beside me and briefly look around, seeing Garrus and Kaidan staring slack-jawed as Cesca and Ash chat quietly and Tali fiddles awkwardly with her Omnitool. But inevitably my gaze is drawn back to the beautiful creatures on stage.

They thrust their chests out, arms thrown outwards as another burst of biotic energy rushes through them, blowing off material. Now their outfits are a deep purple, the boots a little shorter and the skirt a little higher, the sides of the dress cut away to sweep to a strip of material that lies down their midriffs, connecting the skirt to the tight top that exposes a good deal more of their chest, looking something like a cheerleader's outfit. Their routine seems to change to accommodate the change in aesthetic, two of them performing a complex sequence of fast kicks while the third spins on the pole, seemingly defying gravity. After about five minutes of that, they change in another biotic burst, this time wearing what amounts to a bright red bikini with knee high boots. Their movements are now openly sexual, energetically grinding against each other and running their hands over their perfectly formed bodies. I've been to three strip joints in my time and I have to say Dex really knows how to pick them. The jeers and catcalls of 2013 strip clubs are gone, replaced by a hushed silence only punctuated by heavy breathing and the odd whispered comment. One of the Asari stands in front of the pole, side on to the audience, hips pulsating in time to the music as one arm slowly slithers up the pole until it is fully extended, hooking around the metal. Then one of her sisters presses against her and they kiss passionately, the third one sliding under their legs. I have a feeling they're not really sisters. Then the three of them stand and release the brightest biotic burst yet, dropping to the floor as they change into their final outfit - gauzy black panties and knee high stockings, their chests fully exposed. Their eyes go midnight black, the colour they go when bonding, and their movements are once again slow and sensual. One of them leans against the pole, her chest fully exposed as her hands run over her torso and her feet trace small circles on the bellies of her sisters, lying either side of her. Simulated rain starts to fall on the stage, running down the skin of the three Asari in rivulets that follow the contours of their bodies. My eyes zero in on a single drop hanging on the nipple of the central dancer, slowly swelling until it drops off and my gaze follows it past the acres of blue skin and down to splash into her lap. Their bodies start to pulse back and forth as their heads tilt back, expressions of rapturous pleasure on their faces as blue energies dance scintillatingly across their prone forms.

Finally the biotic energy is released with a simultaneous cry from the three girls, the first sound they have made all evening as the entire room is plunged into pitch blackness save for the baleful blue glow of their biotics, silhouetting their bodies momentarily. The biotic light disappears moments later, to be replaced by the house lights coming up on the three of them somehow back in their chaste white dresses, bowing to the crowd.

Thunderous applause and cheers erupt throughout the bar as the orange glow of Omnitools light up the room, credits flowing into Dex's account. I look around at my companions. Cesca and Tali look monumentally bored, Ash looks like she's trying to conceal the fact that she enjoyed the show while Garrus and Kaidan are busily hammering their Omnitools. I briefly consider tipping them but then decide against it. If the creds I would have given them instead go towards a gun to kill Geth I'm sure they won't mind.

The bar slowly returns to normalcy as patrons turn back to their drinks. Garrus and Kaidan are earnestly discussing the performance we just saw as Tali looks rather grumpy. I turn to Cesca.

"Hey Cesca. Do you think Tali has a crush on Garrus?"

She fixes me with a look.

"Crush? The poor girl's smitten. Bet you fifty creds I can get them to hook up before you."

I hold up my hands.

"Why so competitive? Co-operation furthers benefit."

She thinks about it for a second and nods.

"Alrighty then. I'll get to work on Garrus in the morning."

A/N: So I finally got my plan finished. 180 chapters. Woot.

Also, I would like to thank everyone who has faved, followed and reviewed, in particular Jeremy Pine. Thanks for your feedback and advice, amigo. Keep it coming.


	8. Chapter 8

We stand outside the door of Toki's Body Shop, the bright neon beckoning us as it flashes. To be honest I hadn't thought Cesca was serious about the group tattoos but here we are. The doors open and three black-clad Turian females with rings through their mandibles and white tattoos all over their faces walk out, chatting in throaty voices. Garrus mutters something under his breath that my translator hashes out as:

"Spirits-cursed Goths."

Cesca leads us in and we are greeted by a Salarian wearing a sleeveless shirt that clearly shows off his tattoos of the skulls of various species down his arms.

"Hey there. Welcome to Toki's Body Shop. What're you looking to get done? We have a special offer on genital piercings."

Ignoring the various reactions of the crew to that statement, she bulls ahead.

"We're looking to get inked. I hear you're good for Quarians?"

"Of course. We're equipped to tattoo any species on the Citadel, but I'm afraid we can't do piercings for your exosuited friend. And Krogan have to sign a form stating that they'll fully reimburse any damage caused if they go into Blood Rage while getting worked on. The last one we had in here tried to eat his body artist."

Wrex laughs at that.

"Sounds like something one of us would do. Where do I sign?"

"Right here." The Salarian turns to Cesca. "Name?"

"Commander Shepard."

"Ah, the Spectre. My brother's a Spectre too. Jondam Bau. One hundred and fifty credits each, two hundred for anyone who needs the clean room. Head on in, I'll let the artists know you're coming."

We pay and head further into the shop. We are met with several artists, all covered in tattoos and piercings except the Quarian male who takes Tali through a set of doors marked 'Clean Room'. Cesca shows them the design we sketched out, a top down view of the SR1 in front of a skull and crossed guns motif with the phrase 'Armed and Volatile' underneath. The skull and the guns vary depending on the species and weapon preference of the bearer. I, for example, have a Human skull with crossed swords.

The nice lady tattooing me is a cute Asari with black and red zigzagging patterns on her cheeks and a pierced lip, wearing a crop top and tight trousers that show off her 'sexy Vorcha' tramp stamp whenever she turns around. She gets me to take off my shirt and lie on my stomach as she applies a buzzing needle to my left shoulder blade. The site stings as she deftly etches the pattern into my skin. It takes in total twenty minutes and as I look up and see the finished design I have to say I am impressed. It's a work of art.

As I head out of the room I see Garrus and Ash already done and waiting. Ash is customarily cagey but Garrus eagerly shows me the design etched into one of the plates on the back of his cowl. Kaidan and Wrex are next out, then Cesca and finally Tali. That being done, we split and head out to explore the Citadel nightlife.

###

Cesca has used Alliance funds to book us all into a really nice Presidium hotel for the night, which leads me to my current location - practically drowning in bedsheets. I swear the bed they've provided is big enough for an Elcor threesome. I check over my Omnitool. Nothing's really going on until the morning.

I am lying shirtless on the bed, the pendant lying on my chest. I briefly become aware of an itch on my chest and move to scratch it. Almost of its own accord my hand closes around the pendant and I feel a tingling sensation, biotic energy flickering unbidden around me as my fingers twitch.

What the hell?

The Presidium hotel room has disappeared, replaced with an endless turquoise expanse that I am floating in. I look up above me and there is a network of green lines, all progressing in one direction but jinking about laterally, switching position, some interacting, some splitting, combining or just stopping altogether. Looking down I see the same thing in blue. Behind me, two lines curve upwards from the blue plane, slowly changing colour as they progress until they join the green plane. One of them stops soon after, the end simply cut off, but the other arcs down again to attach to my waist. I try to pass my hand through the line but it is smoky, ethereal, simply flowing around me to reform instantaneously. I look up at the lines again.

Fates.

I can't explain how I know that, just that I do. The lines are fates of every sentient being, organic or synthetic, in the galaxy. Behind me the fates are motionless, events already locked into their path by the passage of time, but in front of me they are in flux, oscillating between all possible futures until all that is left is a messy tangle, each decision branching the fates more and more. I look again at the green threads.

Cesca's world.

Then down again at the blue threads.

Martin's world.

I am free, able to swing between the worlds at will, watching the fates as they weave between each other, reacting, interacting, determining the lives of the individuals in both universes.

I dive downwards, arms and legs moving in an approximation of the breast stroke until I once again appear in a crackle of biotic energy in my world. My house, with its memories and possessions and emptiness. It is at this point that I realise. I don't belong here. I never belonged here. I belong on the Normandy.

With that realisation I start to pack my suitcase. I throw in my clothes and sync my iTunes library and DVD collection to my Omnitool before selecting two photos to take with me. One is of me and Martin holding up our fencing trophies and grinning. The other is my parents back when my dad was alive and my mum cared about me. That being done, I twitch my hands around the pendant again, rushing back up and through the bridge realm to reappear in my cushy Presidium hotel room.

It is only now that I start to consider the implications of this ability. To jump between worlds at will - the possibilities are endless. Will I tell Cesca? Maybe. For now I'll keep it to myself. I still have the other pendant in my cabin aboard the Normandy. Maybe one day I'll give it to her, or perhaps somebody else. I figure that using them requires biotics and if aliens crop up in 2013 it would incite mass panic, so I suppose it would have to be a human biotic.

A knock on the door distracts me from my musings. Time to get back in the fray. I key the lock green and Kaidan pushes his way in.

"Hey Ivan. Cesca wants us to get going. We've got an errand to run while we wait for our armour repairs."

I haul myself off the bed and make a beeline for the case. Kaidan notices it.

"What's that?"

"I went out and bought some civilian clothes."

He grumbles as we hail a cab to the Normandy.

"I can't believe I'm going to need to sit this one out. My only armour set is being repaired at the moment."

I shrug.

"I have a spare set of light armour you can borrow."

He grins at that.

"Really? Thanks Ivan."

"Any time."

When we get back to the Normandy we immediately head to the briefing room. Cesca is standing there, hands behind her back as we file in and take a seat.

"We're looking for Dahlia Dantius. Her sister contacted us and passed on the co-ordinates of a pirate base where she's being held hostage."

I remember this one. The pirates presented little challenge so I stay silent for the time being. No need to tell Cesca what she doesn't need to know. Wrex speaks up however.

"I know Nassana Dantius. She's a kerexat. Don't believe a word she says."

A quick extranet search tells me a kerexat is a highly venomous Tuchankan ambush predator, like a nine foot snake. Cesca frowns momentarily.

"Even so, we should check out the co-ordinates she supplied."

The supplied co-ordinates appear to be a tiny moon orbiting a gas giant. Orbital scans show that there are a couple of cheap turrets, a few guards patrolling outside and two underground complexes that look to be separated from one another by the airless surface of the moon. Cesca is quick to formulate a strategy.

"We'll drop in the Mako to take out the guards, then split three and three. Ash, I want you on the Mako's gun. Ivan, take Garrus and Wrex. I'll take Kaidan and Tali."

We file into the Mako, Cesca taking the wheel and Ash in the gunner seat, the other five of us squeezed into the troop compartment. The Normandy's outer door swings open. My first Mako drop.

In total, it takes a Systems Alliance M-35 Mako drop tank twenty seven seconds to hit the ground from the standard drop height of forty kilometres, accelerated by a powerful mass effect field projected by the Normandy and then decelerating steadily. The first eleven seconds were rapid downwards acceleration, the Mako rattling around despite inertial compensators as our guts pasted themselves across our diaphragms, then the hard lurch as the whining compensators managed to cut down the bone crushing force of deceleration to something like four G in the cabin. I am incapable of doing anything except staring at the patch of wall in front of me and trying not to throw up. I can hear screaming around me. Opposite me, Tali is clinging on to the seat for dear life, eyes screwed shut. Either side of her, Kaidan and Garrus are whooping, arms in the air, and Wrex is cackling manically. In the gunner's seat Ash is looking around, seemingly bored, and I can hear Cesca cheerfully whistling as she wrestles with the control column.

The wild ride comes to an end with an almighty thud that reverberates through the cabin as we slam into the ground, the absurdly jacked up suspension taking most of the impact but the tops of the wheels still clash against the wheel arches. As the ringing in our heads ceases Cesca is already speaking.

"Kaidan, come up here and take navigation."

The lieutenant scrambles past us with a couple of muttered apologies and takes the seat next to Cesca in the cockpit, bringing up the haptic map. Moments later we roar off, silent on the airless moon even though inside the cabin the engine and drive core are making a godawful racket. We crest a ridge and then the fighting begins.

Ash lets rip with the turret as we weave wildly, the Mako slewing round in tight turns as rockets and bullets rush past us. Every time we hear the crunching of Cesca running over a mercenary Wrex cheers and smacks his fists together and now and again we feel vibrations through the ground from the pirate turrets exploding.

The engagement takes around twenty seconds. Cesca brings the Mako to a stop directly between the two buildings.

"Ash, you've got a good angle on both doors from here. Anyone who isn't us, crater them."

"Got it."

Garrus and Wrex form up with me in a triangle formation, weapons at the ready. Wrex takes point, his enormous shotgun loaded with hammerhead rounds, with me and Garrus flanking, his Vindicator and my Mattock tucked into our shoulders, mine loaded with incendiaries, his with shredder rounds. Heading in the opposite direction is Cesca's team, Cesca at the head with her new rifle, an M-55 Argus, flanked by Tali and Kaidan wielding a Katana shotgun and a Carnifex pistol respectively. We stack up by the doors to our respective facilities. Leading such a cosmopolitan team is a challenge, especially with Wrex. I have to balance his desire to charge into the middle of the biggest fight he can find with the necessity of clearing out the pirates with minimum resistance.

"Alright. As soon as the door is breached, me and Garrus will be either side. We'll lean in, suppress any enemies we see. On my signal, Wrex, get UCAP with your shotgun."

The Krogan Battlemaster gives a shout of approval.

"Use the Krogan to do the damage. You're learning, boy."

I am fairly sure that beneath his tinted visor Garrus just rolled his eyes, a human gesture that both Garrus and Tali have taken to using.

"Breach!"


	9. Chapter 9

As soon as the door blows inwards we release a flurry of rounds, making the pirate defenders duck and cover. I envelop one in a lash field, yanking him off his feet with a startled yelp as he smashes through the barricade he was behind and right into Wrex's hand. Holding the struggling mercenary by the neck, Wrex uses him as a meat shield, the poor bastard absorbing the fire of his comrades as the blood red Battlemaster charges in. I take the opportunity to neatly put down a couple of them with triple taps from my Mattock, flames consuming their bodies as Garrus keeps the others suppressed with his Vindicator. Then Wrex is in the middle of them, his Batarian meat shield now forming a makeshift club as he wields his shotgun one handed, the pure force of the weapon augmented by the squash rounds to the point where each shot has a similar effect to a biotic throw, mercenaries flying through the air as their allies are beat to death with what used to be an armoured Batarian. It takes Wrex little time to reduce the pirate defence to a nasty looking puddle and several dents in the walls of the prefab.

We make our way further into the base, only held up by the odd pirate. For now, me and Garrus are content to let Wrex charge ahead, gleefully chuckling as he bludgeons his way through the hapless outlaws.

"I get the impression Wrex would be fantastic at Hammer."

I look round at Garrus.

"Hmm?"

"You know Hammer of the Valluvians, right?"

I shake my head.

"How can you not know it? It had the biggest game launch on Palaven in twenty years!"

"I'm Human, remember?"

He shakes his head.

"As soon as we're back on the Normandy I'm installing Hammer of the Valluvians on your Omnitool and we'll play a few rounds."

"Okay. But in return I'm going to find some Human games for us to play."

We almost walk right into Wrex's armoured back.

"Get over here, Turian. There's a door that needs hacking."

Sighing, Garrus applies his Omnitool to the door in question and moments later it opens.

As usual Wrex is first through. I am right behind him, with Garrus bringing up the rear. I am not prepared for what I see.

Slaves. Twenty three of them, of various species, all naked, bruised, bloodied and bound in a kneeling position, arms behind their backs and rough leather gags in their mouths. I approach the first one, a Drell male, and pull off the gag. He just looks at me, too scared to speak. I am about to break off the chains when one of the other slaves, an Asari, starts making a racket, desperately shaking her head. I signal for Garrus and Wrex to stand guard outside and pull off the gag.

"Calm down. Who are you?"

She takes a deep breath before speaking in a hoarse voice.

"My name is Captain Dahlia Dantius. You can't just bust us out, that bitch slaver rigged the whole building with explosives and implanted transmitters beneath our skin. If any one of us moves more than three metres from our current position the bombs go off and we're history."

"Shit. Hold on, there's a Quarian on our crew. If anyone can disarm those bombs it's her. Do you know anything else about this bomb system?"

"You'll need to remove the transmitters and somehow get us out of the chains without breaking the circuit. At least, I think so. There must be a manual override somewhere for when they want to get us out."

I pat her shoulder.

"Don't worry. You'll be out of here and back with Nassana soon enough."

She doesn't react the way I was expecting.

"Nassana sent you? That bitch!"

"Ah ... Come again?"

"She's trying to collect my Goddess-damned share of our mother's estate!"

"Woah, woah, slow down."

She takes a deep breath.

"Our mother was a very wealthy woman who died about six years ago. She left most of it to me and Tania, with only a token inheritance for Nassana. The will states that if one of us dies their share of the inheritance passes to the other sisters, split equally. When Tania lost her leg in that car crash two years ago I suspected Nassana was trying to get her hands on more of the inheritance, but we couldn't prove anything. I'll bet my biotics Nassana set this whole thing up to get me blown up."

I am silent for a second.

"What a bitch."

She grins coldly.

"If I get out of her I think a little family chat is in order. But first if you could figure out how to disable these bombs, that'd be great."

I can't help but grin in wry amusement.

"You're going to love our pilot."

I toggle my comm link.

"Hey Commander. If you're done we need to borrow Tali. We found Nassana's sister along with a whole bunch of other slaves duct-taped to a nuke."

"We'll be right up. We're just hacking a terminal that has some interesting correspondence between Nassana and the leader of these mercs."

"Ah, not meaning to sound rude, but my dry, sarcastic delivery may have masked the gravity of the situation. We have twenty three slaves with subcutaneous transmitters and restraint beacons all linked to enough volatiles to make the Destiny Ascension crap itself."

"Why didn't you say so? We're inbound."

Ten minutes later Cesca appears in the room, her mask off and her hood down, Tali behind her. Her eyes widen at the state of the slaves but I call her over before she reacts.

"Dahlia, meet Commander Shepard and Tali'Zorah. We'll get you out of this."

Kaidan and Ash come in and ungag each slave, offering quiet words of sympathy and reassurance to each one while Wrex and Garrus sweep the facility for any surviving mercenaries. Once Ash and Kaidan are done they form another small team to sweep the facility. Cesca stands and addresses me as Tali pokes around at Dahlia's bonds.

"We need to get the Normandy down here and bring in Dr. Chakwas and Engineer Adams."

"Agreed. I'll call it in."

She goes back to quietly conversing with Dahlia, whom the rest of the slaves look up to as a sort of unofficial leader, as I toggle my comm link.

"Joker, get the Normandy down here and get Chakwas and Adams on the ground. We have hostages rigged to bombs down here."

"Copy that." In the face of a serious situation his customary snark evaporates. Moments later Dr. Chakwas and Engineer Adams appear. Adams immediately heads over to Tali while Chakwas comes over to us.

"What have we got?"

Cesca turns to her.

"We've got subcutaneous transmitters that need removal."

She immediately keys in her Omnitool and waves it over the nearest slave, a Turian female who is staring blankly at the wall opposite.

"I've found them. They're under the skin near the base of the torso. Should be relatively simple to remove, but ..."

"But what, Doc?"

"Given their weakened states I can't administer any anaesthetic. If I had some specialised stock maybe but I'm only equipped to treat battlefield wounds on adrenaline pumped soldiers, not malnourished prisoners."

"Then do it with no anaesthetic."

We all look around at Dahlia.

"Trust me, it's preferable to being cratered."

Cesca nods.

"If you're sure."

Dr. Chakwas, Cesca and myself all key up a basic battlefield surgery program on our Omnitools. I start at the back of the room, my first subject being a traumatised-looking Batarian who looks up at me with fear-filled eyes. I take off my helmet.

"Okay mate. Nod if you understand me."

"I'm not that traumatised."

I stick my tongue out at the Batarian, who chuckles, a chuckle that moments later turns into a rasping cough.

"Alright. The slavers put a subcutaneous transmitter in your gut linked to a big-ass bomb. I'm going to have to cut it out."

His top pair of eyes close.

"Bite down on this."

I put the leather gag back in his mouth and ready my Omnitool. He nods at me.

An orange glowing scalpel appears in my hand. As I apply it to his flesh he growls softly but otherwise doesn't react as I cut into his stomach. Tough bastard. I manage to close a pair of Omni-forceps around the transmitter and gently pull it out, setting it on the ground between the Batarian's knees as I apply a shot of medigel and quickly close up the wound before taking the gag out of his mouth.

"That stings."

Is everyone in this cattle-fucking universe a master of sarcasm?

"Stay put. We still need to disarm the release trigger in the manacles."

"Not really like I have an option, is it."

I move along to the next slave along. This one is an Asari, young and scared.

"W...what's happening?"

"It's okay. My name's Ivan. I'm here with a Spectre. We've come to rescue you, but the slavers set up a bomb and linked it to a transmitter they put in your stomach. I'm going to need to cut it out, okay?"

"B...but..."

The Batarian next to her speaks up.

"Don't worry. It hurts for a bit but it'll get us out alive. You can go home, see your family again."

I hold up the gag.

"Here, bite down on this. It helps with the pain."

As soon as the Omni-scalpel touches her skin she starts bucking wildly, trying to escape its touch. Dr. Chakwas hurries over.

"Ivan, get behind her and hold her still. I'll do this one."

I shift around behind the struggling girl and clamp my arms around her torso, immediately reducing her struggles to feeble movements, pinned by my vicelike grip. The doc applies her scalpel to the girl's blue flesh, drawing a loud, piercing shriek as her efforts to break free redouble. Ignoring her caterwauling, the doc fishes out the transmitter and patches her up, making me let out a breath as the Asari's struggles cease. She slumps against me, unconscious, as I gently lean her against the wall.

The next hour passes in a blur of resolute faces, screams and blood. Finally it's over. My arms up to the elbows are painted purple from a mix of blue and red blood and my ears are ringing from howl after agonised howl as I collapse heavily to the ground outside the prison room. I look up to see Cesca as she slides to the ground beside me.

"This has been one hell of a mission."

Like me, her arms are coated in the blood of various species, with a couple of flecks spattered across her chest and thighs. Her mask and hood have been removed to reveal the tight bun she kept her hair in on missions starting to come undone.

"I'm sure that in a bit I'll be feeling glad we got them out, you know, proud, but right now I just feel grimy and tired."

She sighs and leans her head back against the wall.

"I hear that. Shower and sleep, in that order."

She smiles, but her usual energy isn't behind it, just making her look more drained.

We are roused by Ash calling in.

"Commander, we've located the merc armoury. It's got some pretty sweet toys in."

"We're on our way."

We haul ourselves to our feet and head off, through the maze of claustrophobic passageways and into a spacious room, or at least, a room that used to be spacious before Ash and her assault rifle had introduced themselves to the three slavers inside it. The culprit herself was sitting cross-legged on the floor, her rifle's ammunition block chamber open as she surveyed the various options available to her.

"Look at all this stuff, Commander."

I go over to a table that holds ten ammunition blocks in a neatly padded case. I can tell just by looking at them that they are top quality equipment.

The first one is a deep red colour, warm to the touch. The label beneath it reads 'Mk. X Incendiary (Inferno)'. My Mattock is only loaded with Mk. V incendiaries and it unleashes a world of hurt on any targets that get in my sights. The next block along is coloured white and feels cold, labelled 'Mk. X Cryogenic (Snowblind)'. I haven't seen Cryo rounds in action yet but I remember them from the games. They were brutal. Next up is a pale blue block that gives me a static shock when I touch it. This one is labelled 'Mk. X Phasic (Proton)'. These were supposed to bypass shields but at less damage. I never really used them in the games but now I am intrigued by the possibilities. Bypassing shields would be a neat trick, especially against the Geth. The fourth block is a drab grey, labelled 'Mk. X Penetrator (Tungsten)'. These would be useful against opponents like Geth Heavies or Krogan. The fifth block along is a shiny silver colour, the tiny oak-leaf pattern only visible up close. These rounds were the 'Mk. X Anti-Personnel (Shredder)'. I vaguely recall them being optimised for soft tissue damage and I'd hate to see the wounds the innocuous flechettes could inflict. The second row started with a beige coloured block marked 'Mk. X High-Impact (Hammerhead)'. I have seen these in action in Wrex's shotgun, launching mercs across the room with every hit. Moving along I see a block of a nasty looking orange compound with yellow and black danger markings on it. The label is 'Mk. X High Explosive (Thunder) CAUTION - Highly volatile'. I'm sure Wrex will love these. Moving on, I see a sickly green block that makes my hairs stand on end with the radiation symbol on the side. 'Mk. X Radiation (Polonium) CAUTION - Radioactive'. I leave those alone too. Shooting someone full of radiation seems a little low. The ninth block is a midnight black, smelling faintly of ozone. The label reads 'Mk. X Non-lethal (Taser)'. I don't remember these from the game but they could come in handy. The final block is perfectly transparent, only visible because of the insane amount of refraction subjected to the light passing through it. The rounds were unlabelled on the case apart from a single note, seeming to have been etched on the case by hand that read 'HARPOON'. I am intrigued by the possible effects of that ammunition block.

Snapping the case shut, I look around the armoury. Most of the rifles in here are pieces of junk but the mercs have somehow acquired case after case of these incredibly expensive high end ammunition blocks. I glance over at Cesca, who is looking over a case very similar to my own.

"Commander, I'd recommend we hang on to some of this stuff. I should imagine it'll come in very useful."

Although Ash's tone is clipped and professional her face has taken on the pleading cast of a child eager not to be parted with a new toy.

"Stack up as many of the ammo blocks as you can and cart them over to the Normandy."

Ash grins like a six year old presented with a chocolate chip cookie as she starts hauling crate after crate of ammo onto a small cart in the corner. Her infectious enthusiasm gives us a little lift, just enough to see us through to the end of the operation.

Tali and Adams had soldered wires onto the manacles, allowing them to crack them open with little difficulty and extract the battered and traumatised prisoners. The Normandy engineers then connected an airtight tube from the building's entrance to the Normandy's cargo bay, allowing us to move the prisoners onto the Normandy, a resolute Dahlia directing them despite the wound where her transmitter had been removed. They huddle in the cargo bay, wrapped in blankets as we enter. The Mako is back on board and Ash has piled up the crates of ammo blocks into a little fortress around her weapon bench for want of somewhere better to store them. Dahlia is kneeling by another prisoner, holding his hand as she whispers words of encouragement. I have to admit, I came down to the moon expecting to be killing her as a slaver, but here she is, like an Asari version of Cesca, holding it together and seeing her people through. That conniving bitch Nassana has an unexpected surprise waiting for her.

My shoulders slump as I haul myself into the elevator. I am surprised to see Tali in here with me.

"Hey Tali. How are you doing?"

She looks at me, then looks away.

"How could anyone do something like that? Treat people like that?"

I think about it for a couple of seconds.

"I don't know. But it doesn't matter. What matters is that we got them out. They're going home to their families. We saved them."

She doesn't look happy, but at least her voice is a little stronger.

"Yes ... I suppose we did."

The elevator stops at the crew deck and we head through to our respective cabins. As soon as I am through the door I strip off my armour and step into the shower, then collapse onto my bed.

I am awoken by someone hammering at the door. Bleary eyed, I go to open it.

"Ash."

"We're at the Citadel. Nassana's flown the coop but the slaves are all good. We're heading to find Benezia's daughter in a couple of hours. And Ivan?"

"Yeah?"

She glances down.

"Put some clothes on."

A/N: I have a pretty hefty backlog of chapters at the moment, so expect some rapid fire posting for the next couple of chapters.


	10. Chapter 10

Cesca has called the ground team down to the cargo bay, presumably to demonstrate the new heavy weapons we have acquired from Adrian and his Quarian co-conspirators.

"This is a new prototype based on a Turian handheld mass accelerator called the Artimec-pattern railgun. It fires a three stage shaped projectile. The first stage is a disruptive strike to punch through shields, the second stage is a high density tungsten penetrator and the last stage is a high explosive detonator. Garrus, Wrex, I want you two to take the heavies."

Both Garrus and Wrex look enthusiastic about getting their hands on the powerful anti tank weaponry. Cesca addresses the whole team.

"Listen up. We've located the archaeologist Liara T'Soni, daughter of Matriarch Benezia, on the planet Therum. We have no idea what we'll find down there, so we're going in loaded for maw. I'm on the stick. Wrex, your turn on the gun. Ivan, radar and navigation."

Finally I get to do something in the Mako beside sitting around and waiting for us to be obliterated.

"Tali, Wrex, I want you to load up your pistols with taser ammo. We need T'Soni alive but that doesn't mean we need her conscious for the extraction. Only use them if she's being unruly. Load up everyone. We have lots of lovely ammunition blocks for you to play with. We drop in fifteen."

I head over to the weapons bench. The bench is far longer than it was in the game, replacing the lockers and able to accommodate everyone at once. For my Mattock, I load it up with tungsten rounds and also take a block of phasic ammunition and incendiary ammunition carried in a harness on my left leg. I load up my pistol's light barrel with hammerhead rounds and the heavy barrel with high explosive, also bringing along a block of taser rounds just in case. The pistol ammunition blocks are around a quarter of the size of the rifle ones, meaning they aren't interchangeable.

I look to my left and see Tali sighting down the barrel of her pistol, ammo blocks strapped to her waist. On my right Wrex is admiring his new heavy weapon, fingers stroking along the barrel as he examines it with one eye.

Cesca bangs on the side of the Mako.

"Saddle up, boys and girls. We have a mission to complete."

I slide into the navigator's seat beside her, doing up the over-shoulder restraints as she tests the control column. She glances over at me.

"Crew ready?"

I holler over my shoulder.

"Crew ready?"

I get a chorus of affirmatives. Good thing I read up on Mako operational protocol.

"Ready for drop."

The cargo bay door swings open and the Mako starts rolling towards the gap. Cesca presses a button. An unearthly sound fills the cabin.

"Commander! What in the spirit's name is that racket?"

"Are you kidding, Garrus? I love this song!"

Ash is nodding her head to the beat and Kaidan has a small smile on his face. Garrus is clutching his mandibles, looking like he wants to die, and from the looks of things Tali has turned her suit's audio input off. Wrex is silent in the turret but I can see a single red-armoured foot tapping along to the beat.

"Commander ... Is this Bangarang?"

She turns to me and grins as the Mako pitches out of the cargo bay and plummets towards the volcanic hellhole that is Therum.

"Transmission check."

"Navigation check."

"Turret check."

"Landing in ten."

"BANGARANG"

"Watch the lava."

"I see it."

"Landing in five."

"Check. LZ clear."

"And land ..."

My report is cut short by the almighty jolt of touchdown.

"Since we're not on fire, I'm assuming that was a successful landing."

"You assume correctly. Plot me a route to Dr. T'Soni's last known location."

"Route plotted."

"And we're off. Wrex, keep your head on the swivel. Ivan, holler if any red dots appear on the radar."

"Will do. Try not to put us in any lava, Commander."

"Shut your hole, Ivan."

"Right away. Wait ... Belay that. Geth Dropship come to say hi. Dropping Armatures."

"Anytime, Wrex."

"Give me a second."

"We're being shot at by Armatures, Wrex!"

"I know, I know."

"Holy shit on a shit stick! The hell did you do?"

The Dropship is trailing fire as it plows into the side of the canyon, drive core detonating with an almighty boom as the blast wave obliterates the armatures. Cesca points us nose on to the blast wave, managing to avoid a lava bath as I am torn between hugging and punching the smug bastard in the turret seat.

"I put a shell in the door as the ship was dropping troops. Must've hit something important."

The rest of the journey passes without incident until we come up to the heavily fortified Geth position. Sure enough there is a narrow valley that leads us around their defences ...

"Commander, wait!"

She stamps on the brake.

"Anomalous energy signature up ahead. Could be a mine of some sort."

She thinks about it for a split second.

"Tali, Garrus, Ash, Kaidan, out you hop. Run a close in sweep for this energy signature. It should be around fifty metres in front of us. Garrus, you're in charge."

The four of them pile out and head up, under our watchful eyes. I can see the Geth positions on the radar, the red blips seemingly moving at random.

"Commander, if that is a Geth mine, as soon as it's disabled the Geth will know we're coming this way."

She frowns, then taps her comm line.

"Ground team, this is Mako team. As soon as the mine is disabled we'll charge straight in to get the drop on the Geth. Follow us on foot to clear up stragglers, and for the love of god don't get mown down as we head in."

"Acknowledged, Commander."

We wait for around fifteen seconds, Tali and Kaidan kneeling over what must be the Geth mine as Ash and Garrus keep watch. Moments later they run to the sides of the road.

"Mine's disarmed."

Cesca immediately guns the Mako's engine, charging towards the surprised Geth. The blitzkrieg unleashed by Wrex sends Geth flying across the area, bits blown off as Cesca reverses over an unfortunate rocket trooper. Wrex introduces a Juggernaut to Tuchankan diplomacy, blowing its legs off at the knees before filling it with machine gun fire. The ground team follows, Garrus and Ash putting down damaged platforms with tight bursts of fire from their assault rifles as Tali and Kaidan Overload a couple of them. Before long it's all over. Kaidan hits the gate control and the away team pile back into the Mako chatting excitedly.

"Did you see that sweet headshot?"

"Yeah. My combat drone sent that trooper stumbling right into your firing lane."

"I still can't believe you biotically smashed those two platforms together hard enough to make them explode, LT."

Cesca guns the engine and we continue onwards, only occasionally encountering groups of Geth that quickly fall to a combination of Wrex's fire and high speed encounters with the pointed nose of the Mako. Eventually however we come across a large wall with a narrow fissure in it that prevents us from progressing.

"Kaidan, Ash, I want you two to stay with the Mako." She raised her hand to forestall the inevitable protests. "I trust you two to keep it safe until Joker can swing by and pick us up."

The five of us pile out of the Mako, with Wrex on point and Tali right behind, then me and Cesca, and finally Garrus bringing up the rear with his sniper rifle unslung, ready for action.

"My people have spent years searching for a new homeworld. If we landed here, we'd just keep searching."

"Are you kidding? A couple of degrees hotter and this place would make a good Krogan colony. You Quarians are a picky bunch."

The banter makes us chuckle as we move up, weapons held at the ready. I glance across at Cesca. There's something ... A red dot is dancing across her chest. Garrus speaks up, eager to get in another witticism.

"You can ogle the Commander after ..."

Using my biotics I shove her aside and the Geth sniper misses her torso by scant centimetres. We all immediately go to cover. I gesture with my rifle.

"That tower."

Garrus looks up with his scope.

"I see it."

His sniper rifle spits out a bullet, the hard grey of a tungsten round stabbing out and spearing the sniper through the eye.

"Scoped and dropped."

"Smug bastard."

He swats at my head as he walks past. Cesca directs us to keep moving up. At one point we come across a group of troopers that fall to a flurry of biotics before they can even react to our presence. The problem comes when we reach a large, open area I recognise all too well.

"I got a feeling again, Commander."

She frowns momentarily.

"Me too. Keep your eyes peeled, folks. We do not want the Geth getting the drop on us. Clear?"

My eyes scour the underside of the bridge for the Geth hopper I know is there. Wait ... There. I raise my rifle but before I can fire it unfolds and promptly disappears.

"Hopper!"

"Where?"

"Unknown. The cattle-fucker has a cloak."

"Shit!"

The ground shakes as something heavy slams into the ground behind us. Something that unfolds with a mechanical warble.

"Colossus!"

We dive into cover as the construct, half as big again as the Mako, opens up with machine guns and siege pulse cannon from its enormous head.

"Garrus, Wrex, time to use your new toys."

At Cesca's command they swing the long-barrelled railguns off their backs, checking over the scopes. Garrus breaks back, heading to a roost up the side of the valley to deploy his weapon's bipod. Wrex just tucks the stock into his shoulder and hits the laser sight. Cesca glances across at me and Tali.

"Ideas?"

"The neck is probably the best target."

Cesca signals the two heavies.

"Tali says to target the neck."

I instinctively duck as a burst of heavy machine gun fire whistles by overhead. Then I see it. That damn hopper decloaks, ready to take a potshot at Cesca. Reacting on instinct, I slam the damn thing against the ground with my biotics, then fling it right at the Colossus's face.

"Hit it now!"

On Cesca's order I lean out of cover and start unloading my Mattock at the damn thing, my rounds sparking off its barriers as the Colossus recovers from its unexpected encounter with the airborne Hopper. There is a double metallic thud sound and two projectiles streak out, impacting the Colossus. The barriers surrounding the monster spark and fizz as the projectiles first overload it, then the high density tungsten penetrators punch through the armour plate before moments later bits of Geth insides and squirts of fire are expelled from the two neat holes. Unbelievably, the Colossus is still standing, though the machine gun fire has slowed and no more siege pulses are forthcoming. I manage to burn in half a clip on my Mattock before the shield recovers, my rounds leaving tiny holes in the armour plating. Working in unison, Garrus and Tali overload its already depleted shield, leaving it open. I pull out my pistol and fire the heavy shot, bullet exploding against the thing's neck but doing little damage. But the goal isn't to do damage. The goal is to keep it distracted.

Up in his perch, Garrus is the first to reload his railgun, the projectile detonating dead centre in the damaged portion of the thing's neck, completely severing its head. The Colossus's body stumbles around for several seconds before its eezo core goes critical and it explodes in spectacular fashion.

The team forms up again, ready to breach the ruins. The door hisses open, revealing a dark, dank corridor. Something about the place feels off.

"Everyone ready for this?" If I didn't know better I'd say Cesca sounds nervous. I gulp.

"Nope."

We head into the ruins.


	11. Chapter 11

Yet another change to game canon. The inside of the ruins are pitch black. Yippee.

Cesca lights the way with a tingling glow of biotic energy. The baleful blue glow reveals a mass of shuffling, shambolic creatures closing rapidly with us. My first time up against Husks.

"Open fire!"

Guns, tech and biotics fill the air, a wall of fire that rips through the reanimated corpses, blowing off limbs and splitting skulls. Every time Wrex's enormous Eviscerator booms it sends a husk hurtling backwards, accompanied by the frequent puffs of cryo rounds from Tali's smaller Katana. The assault rifles of me, Garrus and Cesca are filling the air with a flurry of tungsten rounds, less effective against Husks but still dealing a good deal of damage. I launch a biotic pull field into the crowd, yanking a handful of Husks off their feet before Cesca detonates with a throw. Finally we see off the assault. There's a dead Husk about five metres away, only about four and a half feet tall, with wisps of blonde hair still hanging off its desiccated scalp, wearing a summery dress and a cardigan, both with enormous holes in from the Dragon's Teeth. I look closer. On the pink cardigan is a badge that reads '10 TODAY!'.

My knees turn to jelly and I collapse against the wall, head in hands. She was turned into a Husk on her tenth birthday. I feel sick. Then my sickness turns to anger. Saren, the Geth, his mindless Krogan slaves, his deluded Asari allies - they're all going to pay. Violently. I pick myself up and clench my fists, my biotics adding their light to Cesca's. She is looking at me with a worried expression.

"I'm fine. Let's kill some Geth."

Me, Cesca and Wrex are the only sources of illumination, our biotics lighting the way as the team heads down the corridor. As we enter the cave proper Cesca holds up her hand.

"Wait. I want to try something."

She immediately goes dark, invisible as she slips out of the light cast by me and Wrex. Moments later there is a synthetic scream and then we hear her voice.

"Move up."

As we head along the gantries we see several Geth in ambush positions, all with their heads torn off.

"Wow, Commander. You gave those suckers one hell of a haircut. How could you see anyway?"

She shrugs.

"A biotic technique I picked up in ICT. Biotic Mass Transfer Echolocation, or something along those lines. Hadn't had cause to use it since ... Anyway, let's keep it moving. There's an elevator just across the way."

We head in without further incident, until the elevator starts to descend.

"Hoppers!"

The damn things are leaping everywhere, turning the cramped elevator into a kill box. My shields are taking a pounding and with the hoppers firing from all sides there really isn't any cover available.

"Ivan! I'm trying to put up a biotic barrier! Help me out here!"

I reach out and take Cesca's hand as the two of us combine our strengths, erecting a shimmering blue bubble around the elevator that blocks the rounds from the Hoppers. From inside our shield, Tali, Wrex and Garrus can blast at the Geth with impunity. They don't last much longer. I let go of Cesca's hand almost reluctantly, a final flicker of biotic energy jumping between us as the barrier collapses and we jump out of the stalled elevator, landing with a series of solid thumps on the catwalk. The darkness is dispelled by a faint blue glow beneath us, accompanied by a tremulous cry.

"H-hello? Who is it?"

And there's the objective. We drop down a level and come face to face with Liara herself, her limbs twisted into an uncomfortable position by the Prothean stasis bubble.

"Hello out there? Who are you?"

"My name's Shepard, Council Spectre. Are you alright?"

"No, I'm trapped in here and my colleague Melanis was shot in the leg by a Geth."

Wait what? I peer around and notice that Liara is back to back with a female Turian who definitely wasn't in the game. There is a nasty looking puddle of congealed blue beneath the two of them. Cesca calls out again.

"How long have you been trapped in there?"

"Um ... Around three days, I think. At least, long enough to mean I'm terribly thirsty, and I think Melanis's leg might be infected."

"Hang in there. We'll find a way past these barrier curtains and in to you."

"Please hurry. Melanis needs help. I ... I don't know what I'll do if she dies."

With a final reassuring glance we head out. Finding the mining laser is simple enough - it seems as if the Geth were trying to use it to bypass the ruin's defence systems before we interrupted them. Getting it to work is another matter entirely.

Both Tali and Garrus have ensconced themselves in the laser's innards, filling the comm with technobabble as they toss components back and forth. Wrex is perched on a rock, shotgun in hand as he keeps watch, leaving me and Cesca at a loose end. Eventually we decide to go and talk to Liara.

"Commander? What's going on? I heard a lot of gunfire."

"We cleared out the Geth in this section of the ruin and found a mining laser. My team are working to activate it as we speak."

"If I may ask, why did you come all the way out here? Not that I'm not grateful, but it seems odd ... Well, not odd, exactly ... Goddess, I'm terrible at this."

"We came to extract you. Your mother is connected to our investigation into the rogue Spectre, Saren."

"What? My mother is connected with that psychopath? I don't believe you."

Cesca's voice hardens somewhat.

"It's the truth. How do you know Saren anyway?"

"Melanis told me about him. She's his daughter."

Okay, curve ball. I definitely did not see that one coming.

"Really? Saren's daughter and Benezia's daughter? And you expect me to believe you're telling the truth?"

Liara's response, when it comes, is harsh and snappy, a far cry from her usual timid tone.

"Look, Spectre. I'm dehydrated, my friend could be dying of an infection, there are Geth and Krogan trying to kill us and now you're questioning our allegiances based on who our parents are. I haven't spoken to my mother in years and I can assure you that Melanis hates her father almost as much as you do."

She suddenly seems to fold in on herself, the flare of anger quickly hidden behind sweet little Liara again.

"I ... I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Just please, get us out of here and to somewhere where Melanis can get treatment for her wound. After that you can ask me about my mother as much as you like."

Cesca's voice mellows as she looks on the two girls trapped in the stasis bubble.

"Okay. Our ship has one of the best doctors humankind has ever produced on board. Your friend will be fine."

We are distracted by a shout from Wrex.

"Shepard! Laser's ready!"

We dash off down the passageway.

"Alright, burn it up."

The beam punches through the rock and the wall of the Prothean ruin, melting a tunnel, the material bubbling and fusing as it cools after the passage of the high energy beam.

"Okay team. We go in, we head up, we grab those two and we beat feet. Tali, Wrex, keep an eye on them. If they so much as twitch at us, fill them with enough stun juice to sink a cruiser."

We hit the control on the Prothean elevator and it comes up to the level where Liara and Melanis are stuck. My first glimpse of the Turian female from the front is enough to tell me everything I need to know. The steel grey plates and the narrow face are enough to tell me she is Saren's daughter, through and through. The rivulets of blue dried on her leg show that Liara wasn't lying about the bullet wound.

"Garrus! Need some dextro medigel over here!"

He applies a double dose to the girl's leg, muttering as he peers at the wound. Cesca hits a control that drops the stasis bubble, causing Liara and Melanis to collapse to the floor. Liara instantly spins round to kneel over Melanis.

"Mel? Mel, if you can hear me, just hold on a little ..."

The ruins shudder, knocking us all off balance.

"Commander, I think a swift exit would be a good idea right now."

She glances around.

"Everyone onto the elevator."

The Prothean elevator shoots upwards, propelling us towards freedom. Our escape, however, is truncated by an enormous tank-bred Krogan.

"Well shit."

The Krogan opens his mouth to speak but before a single word escapes his mouth he explodes, shreds of flesh flying everywhere. We quickly mop up his Geth support and turn to see Wrex holding his railgun, popping a shell casing out of the breech.

"What? We didn't have time to listen to him monologue. Volcano, remember?"

Garrus hoists Melanis up on his shoulders and I end up carrying the weak, dehydrated Liara as we sprint towards the exit.

"Joker! A pick up would be nice!"

Once again we find ourselves running in the pitch darkness, our route lit only by the biotic glow emitted by me, Wrex and Cesca. Eventually we manage to burst out of the cave and leap onto the Normandy, not a moment too soon.

A/N: Sorry about the short chapters. For this one I'm going on actual content rather than word length to find my chapter cutoffs, meaning that chapter length will vary greatly throughout the fic. Also, I always find combat scenes quite difficult to write. Connected to that, last chapter in the Mako I tried portraying a combat scene solely through unannotated dialogue and I'm not sure exactly how effective that was. Feedback appreciated.


	12. Chapter 12

Both Liara and Melanis are in the medbay, being treated for their various maladies, severe dehydration and muscle fatigue for being held in such an uncomfortable position for so long, plus Melanis's leg wound. As I walk into the medbay I can hear the murmur of quiet voices.

"Don't worry, Dr. T'Soni. Miss Arterius has a very resilient immune system on account of her biotics. She'll be just fine. I've already treated the infection and removed the bullet. She'll be waking up any time soon."

I choose that moment to walk in and Dr. Chakwas turns to me.

"Ah. Hello there, Ivan. What can I do for you?"

"Just checking in on our new guests, Doc. Commander wants to debrief them ASAP."

Her response is forestalled by the Turian female stirring and rubbing her eyes.

"Liara?"

The Asari is by Melanis's side in a shot.

"Mel, thank the Goddess, you're mmf."

Her sentence is cut short by Melanis grabbing her and pulling her into a kiss that lasts a good fifteen seconds. When she pulls away Liara appears flustered.

"Um ... Gosh, I ... Um ..."

The Turian girl smiles and pats her hand.

"I figured it was about time."

I clear my throat, drawing attention to myself.

"You're Saren's daughter."

Her mandibles instantly swing inwards, an expression I recognise as intense distaste.

"A guy called Saren once knocked up my mother. That doesn't make him my father."

Is there anyone on this ship who doesn't have daddy issues?

"So no love lost between you two then."

She looks suspicious.

"If that means I hate the bastard's guts, then yes."

"So you wouldn't happen to know what he's doing with an army of Geth and Krogan attacking Human colonies?"

She sits up, her hands curling into claws as she glares at me.

"Something you should understand, human, is that my father only ever gave me two things. One of them was this."

She tears open her shirt to reveal a fine tracery of scars across her abdominal plates.

"Jesus Christ."

She snarls as she opens up a locket around her neck, showing a picture of an older Turian female.

"The other thing he gave me was biotics, by deliberately exposing my mother to Element Zero throughout her pregnancy. As a side effect, she died."

The bitterness with which she speaks makes me physically take a step back as she buttons up her shirt again.

"We're going to kill him."

She fixes me with a look I'll never forget.

"Then I'm coming with you. That bastard spent the first seventeen years of my life trying to turn me into a weapon and destroying any chance I ever had of being a normal girl. Putting a bullet through that sick fuck's brain will be the proudest moment of my life."

There's only one way I can in good conscience respond to that.

"Welcome aboard the Normandy, Melanis. You too, Liara. If you're up for it, I'd like to introduce you to the Commander."

At a nod from Dr. Chakwas, Melanis scrambles out of bed, aided by Liara. I lead the two of them up to the briefing room first. Cesca is there, going over supply manifests with XO Pressley. I haven't really communicated much with Pressley but according to Tali he's quite hostile towards our alien teammates. They both look up as they enter. The XO frowns.

"More additions to the crew, Commander?"

She smiled at us, pointedly ignoring Pressley's tone.

"I have a debriefing to conduct. We'll continue this discussion at a later date."

Pressley scowls as he stomps out of the room and Cesca taps the intercom.

"All ground team, please assemble in the briefing room."

The chairs start to fill up, first Kaidan and Ash, then Wrex and finally Garrus and Tali. Cesca kicks off the meeting.

"Firstly, congratulations on another successful mission, and now some introductions are in order for our newest crew members, Liara T'Soni and Melanis Arterius." A bristle of hostility runs through the room. "I'm Commander Shepard. This is Ivan Borodyov, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. As you know, the reason we extracted you two from the Prothean ruins is because Saren and Benezia are running around the galaxy, shooting up Human colonies and searching for some sort of Prothean artifact called the Conduit."

Melanis shrugs.

"I don't know anything about that. I haven't had any contact with Saren since I escaped eight years ago."

Liara nods her head.

"And I haven't had any contact with my mother in almost thirty years. I'm sorry, Commander, but if you're looking for information on her or Saren we can't help you. And I've never heard of this Conduit. What do you know about it?"

"Only that whatever it is, Saren seems to think it's linked to the Prothean extinction. Some way to recall the Reapers."

Before the discussion could continue, Ash holds up a hand.

"Wait. Commander, we're talking about the daughters of Targets Alpha and Beta here. And you're just trusting them?"

Melanis turns to Ash but before she can speak Cesca cuts in.

"Look at her closely, Ash. Nobody could fake that amount of hate and hurt. I trust them."

Clearly Melanis isn't satisfied because she practically springs over the table and slams Ash against the wall.

"Let me tell you about my father." Her voice hisses with tears of repressed rage, the venom of it giving even Wrex pause. "He kept me locked up in his big estate on Palaven, spent seventeen years conditioning me to kill. He dragged in species after species, told me to kill them, applied electric shocks when I wasn't fast enough. He deliberately poisoned and killed my mother with Element Zero just so I would be a biotic. He beat me for hours to improve my pain tolerance." She sounds less like a young woman and more like a demon at this point. "I'm going to kill him. If anyone tries to stop me, I kill them. You don't trust me, then fine. Stay out of my way."

The atmosphere of the room is charged, intense, dangerous. Melanis's electric blue eyes flash as biotic sparks jump across her body. Ash looks into her eyes, how she's meeting the pure agony spilling out of them I can't imagine.

Cesca's voice is like a shard of ice as it cuts through the room.

"Everyone except Melanis, out."

Ash slides out of the Turian woman's grip and stalks out, spine ramrod stiff. Kaidan and Tali quickly follow, then Garrus, Wrex and finally Liara. I am the last to leave, and in the doorway I glance back to catch a glimpse of Cesca looking at me. I immediately catch her meaning.

Keep things sane out there.

I can do that.

As soon as the door closes I gather the ground team around, absent mindedly noting they seem to treat me like an unofficial second in command.

"Listen up. That girl is a time bomb. No, Liara, I don't want to hear it. Same to you, Ash. I want you all to minimise contact with her. If she approaches you, be civil, and that means none of your anti-alien bullshit, Chief, same to you, Wrex, but above all do not piss her off. Just because she's on our side doesn't mean she won't hurt someone if she gets upset. Just ... Be careful. Liara, a word."

The rest of the crew disperse, leaving a very nervous Asari standing in front of me.

"Answer honestly. Do you think Melanis poses a danger to the crew?"

"I ... I couldn't say. She's a bit ... Well, sometimes I feel like there are two people in there. Most of the time, she's quite agreeable, but as soon as someone mentions her father ..."

She lets her voice trail off.

"You and she have a close personal relationship?"

"Um ... I suppose you could say that."

"Romantic?"

"I ... I ... Um ... I'm not quite sure."

"Do what you can to reduce her aggression. If it becomes a problem I don't think anyone will like the consequences, least of all her."

"I'll do my best."

She nods again and we both hover outside the door, waiting for Cesca to finish her 'chat' with Saren's daughter. After about a couple of minutes the lock turns green and the door opens. Melanis almost immediately stalks out and stops abruptly, looking at Liara, her mandibles trembling. Liara takes her by the arm and leads her down the stairs as Cesca emerges, looking wiped.

"Cesca, you want to talk, I'll be in my cabin. Come by whenever."

She smiles wanly at me, her customary smile not quite reaching her eyes.

"Actually, I'd quite like to talk now, if that's okay."

In response I head down to my cabin, Cesca following me. As soon as the door slides shut behind us she speaks.

"We're in a mess."

We both sit on the edge of my bed.

"I warned the ground team to avoid pissing her off and asked Liara to try and keep her in check. If she actively becomes a threat, what then?"

"I honestly don't know. If she wounds a crewmember maliciously I guess we'll have to neutralise her."

"She's romantically involved with Liara."

"Goddamnit. I guess we can add a psychotic Turian time bomb and a socially awkward Asari to our collection."

"Some people collect stamps, or vintage Omnitools. We collect aliens with daddy issues."

She shuffles further onto the bed and lies down, staring at the ceiling.

"I don't think I've said this before, Ivan, but thanks for everything you've done for me. You're probably my best friend on this ship."

"I guess I could say the same for you, Cesca. Funny how that happens, isn't it? Every time we go into combat together it's like our friendship progresses by six months."

"Trusting someone with your life does have that effect. But I guess you're more than just a friend. You're a natural leader, a brilliant tactician and you command the trust of the crew. How would you feel about being second in command of the ground team?"

I take a second to absorb that.

"You're serious?"

"Completely."

"I'd be honoured."

She smiles again as she pulls herself up and into a sitting position again. There is a knock on the door.

"It's open."

The door slides open and Liara steps through.

"Uh ... I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Cesca smiles warmly.

"Not at all. How can I help?"

"I heard about your Prothean vision, Commander. I was wondering ..."

My eyes narrow.

"You want to meld with her, take a peek for yourself."

Her eyes widen.

"Yes, how did you ..."

"Lucky guess."

Cesca looks thoughtful.

"Alright. Let's go for it. A second set of eyes could be useful, I suppose."

I can't say why but the thought of Liara melding with Cesca fills me with an insane jealousy. It makes no sense at all, so I clamp down on the feelings and pat her hand reassuringly when she glances nervously over at me.

"I'll be right here. And Liara, if the Commander is harmed in any way I'll personally kick your ass from one end of the galaxy to ..."

"Ivan."

"Sorry."

Seemingly unfazed by my threat, Liara walks right up to Cesca and bends her head, motes of blue already flickering across her body as her eyes fill with inky blackness.

"Embrace eternity!"

The meld lasts less than five seconds, ending when Liara abruptly backs away, clutching her head.

"Oh ... Oh Goddess ... How do you ... I have to go."

And with that, she leaves, moaning softly and stumbling down the corridor. I turn to see Cesca standing there, white as a sheet.

"Cesca?"

"Jesus," she breathes, not even acknowledging me, "that's nasty." She looks up at me. "My advice, avoid jumping in the sack with an Asari. It's like getting brain raped."

"You alright?"

"I think so. Just really fucking tired, is all."

Almost as soon as the words are out of her mouth, she stumbles, eyelids drooping. I catch her as her knees buckle and she curses quietly before falling asleep in my grasp.

Well, this is awkward.

I can hardly carry her down the hallway and into her cabin, and I don't have the heart to wake her up again, so I pick her up, wow, she really is quite light, and lay her down on my bed, pulling the sheets over her as she burrows into the pillow, which leaves me at something of a loose end. I'm hardly going to sit in here and watch her sleep, that would be creepy, to say the least, so I decide to head down to the cargo bay.

When I get there, Garrus, Tali and Kaidan are all sitting in a circle, Omnitool-projected VR goggles over their eyes as they hold their hands out in a rough approximation of guns. As I approach, Garrus lifts his goggles and grins at me.

"Ivan, we're playing Hammer of the Valluvians. Come join us."

I take a seat and accept Garrus's game invitation, VR goggles appearing over my eyes as I look through the available characters. Ah, this one looks good. Salarian Stalker.

I am instantly transported into a war-torn battlefield, glowing pulses of energy flying over my head as I instinctively take cover.

"All units, converge on the transport hub. We need to get aboard that carrier before it can deploy missiles."

I immediately set off running towards the objective, only to have my head explode three seconds later.

"Scoped and dropped."

Scowling, I respawn and head off to the carrier again. As I slide between two rocks three red beams snap into existence, slicing my character into shreds as I power slide through them.

"Oh hey. I killed someone with my laser grid trap."

"Nice one, Tali."

I respawn again, only to be obliterated by a burst of fire from a heavy weapon firing a torrent of purple balls of energy.

"Kaidan, spawn kills are low."

Moments later I hear cursing as I respawn again.

"Dammit, Ivan. You had to let everyone know I was by a spawn point, didn't you."

As soon as I respawn I hunker down and take a look at my belt. There is a small module marked 'Stealth Shroud'. I tap it and instantly become invisible, creeping towards the transport hub. Cresting a hill, I notice a female Turian sitting at what looks like a portable console, tapping away. I sneak up behind her and slit her throat.

"IVAN just ended TALI's killing spree."

"Son of a bosh'tet!"

"Ha!"

I cloak again and sneak off, dashing between rocks to recharge my cloak periodically. It doesn't work. Kaidan kills me with a heavy rocket launcher.

We play for around two hours, with me eventually getting the hang of the Salarian Stalker, running rings around Kaidan's Krogan Devastator and Tali's Turian Defender but still constantly being killed by Garrus's Volus Longshooter, an incredibly embarrassing state of affairs. Eventually we switch off the game and get up. Tali heads back into engineering, Garrus goes to poke at the Mako again and Kaidan heads over to the elevator, leaving me at something of a loose end. I eventually end up browsing Vapour, apparently the Extranet successor to Steam, for games, installing Hammer of the Valluvians along with a couple of other games, Grim Terminus Alliance, Team Fortress 5, Crysis Trilogy (2179 Edition), Gratuitous Space Battles III, Destiny's Relays and Sins of a Galactic Empire. I especially like the last one. Sins of a Solar Empire was always my favourite strategy game back in 2013, and the new edition doesn't disappoint. The factions were a little odd, the main seven being the Alliance, the Republics, the Hierarchy, the Union, the Confederacy who appeared to be a highly advanced version of the Quarians, the Clans, essentially a pre-Genophage Krogan, and the Hegemony. I'd quite like to play a few games against some of the crew, but for now I settle for reading the manual and watching a couple of the introductory videos, the one involving the destruction of the Citadel seeming strangely prophetic. My next move is to try and strike up some conversation. I head up to the crew deck and find Melanis and Liara sitting in the mess hall, eating quietly. I go up and strike up a conversation that is incredibly awkward until Dr. Chakwas of all people breaks the ice with an incredibly rude joke about a Prothean sextoy, a horny Asari and a very unlucky Turian C-sec officer that has us in tears of laughter. Our conversation then turns to discussions of Liara's archaeological digs and my theory about the Protheans having wings. After a while I wander away to seek out somebody else to talk to. Back down in the cargo bay I see Garrus and Tali working on the Mako and head over to talk to them. They cheerfully natter to me and each other about the Mako, their guns and plans for their next visit to the Citadel. Eventually the topic turns to our newest arrivals.

"So Ivan. What do you think of Melanis and Liara?"

I pause and think for a second.

"Liara's a bit antisocial, so I'm finding, but she's alright. Melanis gives me the wigs though. Holding a conversation with her is like playing catch with grenades."

"I agree. Any other female, with a body like that I'd be all over her, but she's a spirits-damned psychopath."

Tali sounds slightly put out.

"So she's attractive then?"

"Slim, narrow waist, long arms and legs. Pretty much an ideal of Turian beauty, but like I said, I'm not going anywhere near that."

Tali turns back to her work, tapping her Omnitool with slightly more force than necessary. I can't resist a spot of light teasing.

"Jealous, Tali?"

She ignores me, but Garrus picks up my train of teasing.

"Don't be. You don't shape up all that badly yourself."

She sounds quite bitter.

"Stop. You can't even see my face. What do you know?"

Both me and Garrus are slightly taken aback by her tone. When Garrus next speaks he sounds much more serious.

"That doesn't matter Tali. You're one of the kindest, most compassionate individuals I know."

Before the awkward can deepen any further an announcement comes over the comm line.

"All hands, be advised, we are redirecting as per Admiral Kahoku's request. ETA to Edolus is two hours."


	13. Chapter 13

For the third time I find myself hurtling groundward in a Mako tank, this one starting to get a little cozy. Cesca has relinquished the stick, letting Kaidan try his hand at driving, with Tali in the navigator's seat and Ash ensconced in the turret. The Mako can seat up to eight soldiers in the troop compartment, and with six of us in here it's really starting to get tight. Cesca and I are sitting at the rear, closest to the hatch on either side, with Liara and Melanis next to me and her respectively, wearing second hand armour and standard issue weapons. On the other side of them sit Garrus and Wrex, engaging in the customary glaring contest they always held whenever they were closer than five metres and not in combat.

The Mako finally slams into the ground, jolting us all. Melanis's dry tone comes over the comm line.

"So we just dropped from orbit in a ground vehicle. Exactly what have they been feeding you Alliance types?"

"Plenty of bullshit and a damn fine life insurance policy," I quip back as the Mako starts to roll.

"The source of the distress call is three klicks ahead, Commander."

Edolus, distress call, Admiral Kahoku - Oh shit. I remember this one.

"Uh ... Commander, I'm having one of my feelings again."

"Come on, let's hear it."

"Missing marines, sandy planet, distress call, ring any bells?"

I am fairly certain that beneath her mask Cesca's face just drained of colour. She breathes a single word.

"Akuze."

"If so we need to disable that distress signal before some other sod stumbles into it. Commander. Commander?"

"Yes, I'm good. Right. Um ... This feeling, how strong is it?"

"I'm almost certain this was a Maw attack."

"Right. Kaidan, bring us to a stop at the edge of the rocky area."

"What are you thinking?"

"Maws detect vibrations in the ground. The louder we are, the more likely it is to attack. You wait here. I'll go in solo, shut off the beacon and be right back."

I switch to a private channel.

"Cesca, there's no way in hell I'm letting you go in there alone."

"Ivan ..."

"Court martial me back on the ship. Let's go."

"Ivan ..."

"This isn't open for debate. You're not going alone."

"Fine."

We scramble out of the back hatch and stand at the edge of the rocky area.

"You ready?"

"Nope."

We start our dash across the sand, using biotic impulses to help us to sprint full tilt across the loose surface. Three hundred and thirty seven metres separate us from the downed Grizzly. Three hundred and thirty seven of the longest metres in my life. I concentrate on my footfalls, on the burning in my muscles, desperately trying to stave off thoughts of being eaten by a giant sand worm. However hard I'm having it I know Cesca must be having it a hundred times harder. Having her entire unit wiped out by Thresher Maws can't have done her any good, psychologically speaking.

After what seems like hours but can't have been more than a couple of minutes, we both collapse against the side of the Grizzly, panting. I take off my helmet and take deep breaths of the cool Edolus air before chugging water from my canteen. Beside me, Cesca takes her mask off and spits onto the sand before likewise draining her canteen. We sit there, panting, for about a minute before we get moving again. We round the corner of the Grizzly and come across the bodies.

Cesca's eyes go wide and she whimpers quietly as she sees the acid-eaten corpses in Alliance armour, scattered around the distress beacon. I gently shake her.

"Come on, Cesca. We've got a job to do."

She rubs her eyes and then the professionalism is back, stepping over the dessicated corpses as she approaches the distress beacon. It takes her all of ten seconds to disable the beacon.

"There's something off about this signal. It's like an Alliance signal but the encryption's scrambled al little, like somebody tried to alter ..."

With an almighty roar the ground starts to shake. Cesca runs over to the Grizzly and sinks down, pressing herself against the hard metal, hugging her head and whimpering slightly. I kneel beside her, worried out of my mind.

"Cesca! Come on, stay with me!"

Sand scatters over our position as the Thresher Maw erupts from the ground, filling the air with an unearthly shriek as its eye clusters lock onto us. Shit, shit, shit. Those things are terrifying. I shake Cesca, desperate to get her moving again.

"CESCA WE HAVE TO MOVE!"

She just sits there, catatonic. Cursing, I grab her and run around the other side of the Grizzly, depositing her on the ground and triggering my comm link.

"Ivan to Mako. Blow that thing the fuck up! Keep shooting, keep moving, do not let it grab you from underneath!"

"Copy, Ivan. Moving to engage."

Moments later the Mako's cannon roars out and an explosive shell bursts against the Thresher Maw's head, sending it reeling as I shake the catatonic Cesca.

"Come on, we need you!"

She just keeps rocking back and forth, whimpering softly. I need to break her out of it but I'm exhausting my options. I shake her harder, then whisper a strangled "Sorry" as I punch her. She just falls, lying on the ground with the same expression on her face. Now I'm seriously worried. There is one more recourse open to me but it feels like crossing a line - hell, it is crossing a line. But I guess I've got no choice. I need to snap her out of this catatonia before we both get killed. So I grab her and, before I can think about what I'm doing, I kiss her.

There's no magical first kiss moment, no choirs of small children or magical rainbows. Her features are unresponsive, the taste salty from the sheen of sweat on her skin and I'm fairly sure I might have bruised my lips with the force I'm crushing them against hers. But as I let go it has the desired effect. She blinks and looks up at me.

"Ivan?"

"Hi." I peek over the Grizzly to see the Maw slinging acid at the Mako. "Kill Maw now, talk later."

She pulls out her rifle and crouches in a combat stance behind the wrecked APC.

"Give me a sit rep!"

Wrex responds to her request almost immediately.

"Things are sticky but we're still alive. The Maw's severely wounded but he's a tenacious bastard. You good?"

"We're good."

The Maw towers up above us, poised to crash down on the abandoned Grizzly. We barely throw ourselves out of the way in time.

"Run!"

We run, sprinting, weaving away from the giant worm as the Mako blasts again with the cannon, a direct hit on the head that draws a roar of rage as it rears up again, only to receive a burst of machine gun fire to the neck, followed by a final cannon blast that blows right through its neck, severing the monstrous head as it falls, a final screech splitting the air. We come to a halt and flop down onto the sandy ground, panting. The Mako rolls up to us and a concerned looking Garrus jumps out, rushing over to us with a dose of medigel ready.

"Garrus, we're fine," I manage to gasp out.

"I'm gonna die," Cesca adds, somewhat unhelpfully.

"Help me up."

Garrus hauls us to our feet and we stumble back to the Mako.

"Grab the distress beacon. Tali and Adams can take a closer look at it on the Normandy."

Then she falls asleep in the seat of the tank, much to Liara's bemusement as her hooded head rests on the Asari's shoulder.

###

My Omnitool buzzes, alerting me that I have received a new message.

Meet in my cabin. -FCS

FCS are Cesca's initials. Francesca Catherine Shepard. I make my way to the door of the captain's cabin and knock.

"Come in."

I touch the lock and walk in. Cesca is sitting at her desk, wet hair loose around her shoulders and wearing a thin white blouse and tight black trousers.

"Ivan. Take a seat."

I look round the room. She's in the only chair. After a couple of seconds awkwardly looking around I perch on the edge of her bed. She turns around and fixes me with a very strange facial expression I don't quite understand.

"What was that, back on the surface? The Thresher Maw popped up and you kissed me, just like that."

Oh shit. She doesn't even remember.

"That's not quite how it happened."

"Then enlighten me." I can't decide if she sounds angry or amused. I bludgeon in without preamble.

"When the Maw popped up you seized up, spent a full minute rocking back and forth with a thousand metre stare like a severe PTSD patient. I had to drag your catatonic ass out of the way of a Maw acid burst. The kiss was to snap you out of it."

I look solidly at my hands folded in my lap, unable to meet her gaze.

"Was that all it was?"

No, no it wasn't.

"Yes."

Her face settles into a mask of stony indifference.

"That will be all."

I get up to go. Dammit! Why is this so hard! I consider myself to be a very good liar, enable to construct elaborate fictions on the spot and keep multiple people convinced I am telling the truth. So why is it that this one woman, nothing more than a cluster of pixels in my world, is so difficult to lie to. Before I know what I am doing I am speaking again.

"When I said that was all it meant I lied."

She looks up at me, frowning. Nothing for it but to press on and hope it doesn't get me chucked off the Normandy.

"I have ... feelings for you. Strong feelings. I'm sorry. I know it's against regs, I ..."

I am cut short by Cesca surging over to me and kissing me full on the lips. Now that's a first kiss moment. Her lips feel soft against mine, her hands cool against me, scented lightly of that orange and vanilla shampoo I only just realised she uses. I tentatively move one hand to stroke her hair and she pushes into me momentarily before pulling away. She has a wide smile plastered across her face.

"Not against regs if you're not Alliance."

"Well, in that case ..."

I grab her and flop back onto the bed, pulling her with me until she's lying on top of me, her face inches from mine. She playfully bats at my head.

"You've done this before, you sly dog."

I cheekily grin.

"This is the first time I'll remember in the morning."

She sticks her tongue out at me, leading me to quickly capture it between my lips, an action that leads to another kiss, each one better than the last.

"I have to say this is quite unusual. I've only known you for about two weeks."

She relaxes, resting her head against my chest.

"You'd be surprised how quickly relationships can form in the military. No sense waiting around when tomorrow your head could be blown off."

I shuffle back, trying to get fully onto the bed without displacing Cesca. I have to admit, it does make a certain kind of sense. I always found that odd, how the characters in Mass Effect spent the majority of the game mincing around their feelings and then only acted on them the night before the game's suicide mission, be that Ilos, Omega-4 or Earth. My thoughts are abruptly torn from the Mass Effect games by Cesca running a hand underneath my T-shirt and wiggling seductively on top of me. Much as I'd love her to continue, there's something I need to do.

"Tell me about Akuze."

SIX YEARS AGO

"I'm telling you, Sarge, it's gonna be a slaver attack. Those goddamn Batarians have been all over recently."

Sergeant Francesca Shepard turns to fix Private Robert Lance with an irritated glare.

"Can it, Lance. We've got no idea what's down there. Don't make assumptions, how many times do I have to smack it through that pea-brain of yours?"

"Sorry Sarge, but I mean what else could it be?"

"Can it, Lance, or you're buying for the whole squad next shore leave."

"Yes ma'am."

Cesca grins beneath her hardsuit helmet, flaring her biotics in preparation for the mission. Lance was most likely right, they'd be up against Batarian slavers, but like she said - no assumptions.

She looked round at her ten man squad. She was the designated biotic, something that made her both a source of fear and fascination for her men. Opposite her was her second in command, Corporal Adrian Wood, his Bowie knife in the sheath at his belt the only non-regulation component of his uniform. Like her, he wore a medium grade hardsuit, carrying an M-8 Avenger and an M-3 Predator. They were nearest the door of the dropship and on their other sides sat the Bhajesh twins, Sunri and Mila, each one toting an M-92 Mantis sniper rifle and an M-4 Shuriken machine pistol with their light hardsuits. The next people down were the assault specialists, Kazimir Petrov and Ramon Esquerra, were sitting in their heavy armour, toting M-29 Katana shotguns along with their M-8 Avengers, and then were the engineering specialist, Nastya Olychenka, armed with a pistol, an Omnitool and the ability to hack any terminal, the medic, Akele Mbengu, able to glue anyone back together, and finally two rookies, Toombs and Lance.

Cesca stands and briefs the whole unit.

"Alright, this is a recon in force mission. The colony here sent out a distress signal and we haven't heard from them since. Our job is to get in, find out what's going on and get out. Avoid engagement unless detected or otherwise ordered. Am I clear?"

The chorus came thundering back from nine mouths.

"Clear ma'am!"

"Alright princesses, gear check. We haven't got all year."

The dropship rattles, making Cesca brace herself against the wall as the inertial dampeners briefly whine, then compensate.

"Flight, what the hell was that?"

"Ah, unknown ma'am. Looks like Chevron Three just took a hit. Command's ordered us into an evasive pattern."

More rattles shook the dropship, grating on Cesca's nerves. The last thing they needed was to get embroiled in an air engagement.

"Holy shit! Chevron Three is down!"

"Survivors?"

"It'll take a miracle. She went up like a bonfire."

"Report. Source of fire?"

"No clue. Looks like some sort of acid ... WHAT THE FU-"

Something slammed into the low flying dropship, knocking Cesca to the floor as chaos broke loose. The pilots screamed briefly, then went silent as the dropship plows into the ground, throwing up furrows of sand as it dragged a ruler-straight impact mark in the planet.

Cesca picks herself up, cursing like a private as she checks over her squad. All seem okay, struggling out of their harnesses.

With a screeching sound of tearing metal, the roof of the shuttle disappears, torn off by some unseen force. Cesca finds herself staring into the ice blue eyes of a monster.

"Everyone out, go, go, go!"

Seven soldiers make it out before the Thresher Maw fills the cabin with acid, Esquerra, Petrov and Lance caught in the blast. Petrov is half out the door, his heavy armour protecting his body long enough for Wood and Olychenka to tear the acid-splashed plates off him, but Esquerra has stopped to help Lance out of his jammed harness. Neither of them make it.

PRESENT DAY

Cesca's eyes take on a faraway look as she stares out of the window.

"Just like that, two of them were gone. Ramon was a very close friend. We went through training together. He was the one who picked me up and cleaned me off when I got drunk every Saturday night. And just like that he was gone."

I hate making her go through this, relive the worst experience of her life, but it's necessary. I know for a fact that there are more Thresher Maw encounters in the game. If she seizes up like she did on Edolus every time, she'll get herself killed. So I sit and listen as she slowly chokes out the story of the Sole Survivor.

A/N: Every time you don't review Harbinger indoctrinates a puppy. Just sayin. But really, there are few things more useful and fulfilling than reading a review for your story so please review. Tell me what you think, what you liked and didn't like and where you think I should go next. FEED ME FEEDBACK.


	14. Chapter 14

SIX YEARS AGO

The monster shrieks in vindictive satisfaction as the two Alliance soldiers melt under its acid attack before turning its attention to those surviving.

"Run!"

The eight of them take off, sprinting across the sandy surface as splashes of acid burst around them. Somewhere, someone is screaming a long way away and pillars of smoke rise on the horizon, distant echoing shrieks from more monsters as they attack the other crashed transports.

"Head for that rock formation!"

The eight of them redirect their sprint to the rocks, eventually managing to scramble up onto them just as another burst of acid erupts right in the middle of the squad. Without slowing down Cesca grabs the afflicted individual by the wrist and drags her into cover behind the rocks. She desperately peels away the hardsuit plating, then the underlayer, only to find she's too late as the acid starts eating into Sunri Bhajesh's coffee-coloured skin.

"Medic!"

Mbengu is there in seconds, along with Mila, Sunri's twin sister.

"Sunri! Please, hold on!"

Mbengu catches Cesca's eye and, very subtly, shakes his head. Cesca rests her hand on Sunri's shoulder and the woman looks up at her sergeant.

"I'm not going to make it, am I Sarge?"

Her voice is choked as she replies.

"Afraid not, Sunri."

Mila wails and grips her twin sister's hand, pressing her forehead to her sister's chest.

"Mila, you have to be strong. Okay? You have to ... have ..."

Her face contorts into a rictus of pain before relaxing again.

"That's better. I can't feel it now. Guess that means it's almost done. Stay safe, Mila. I love you."

Then she closes her eyes. Ten seconds later she's dead. Cesca pulls the sobbing Mila off her twin's body and embraces her, whispering that she's sorry. The woman shoves her away and runs out onto the sand, holding her sniper rifle, ignoring the calls to come back, to stop the suicidal charge. Cesca doesn't let anyone go after her. The Maw doesn't even break the surface, just drags her under. They were down to six.

The Maw wasn't done with them. It bursts out of the ground, spraying acid across the rocky island, slowly eroding their cover. Wood gathers them round.

"I was thinking, what if we pooled all our grenades and made ourself a bomb? Might give that worm something else to chew on."

Cesca looks at him critically and he meets her gaze with an open, level expression that practically reads 'Trust Me' across his forehead in big neon letters.

"Good thinking Wood. Alright, everyone pool your grenades."

In all they have seventeen grenades between them and they set themselves to making the explosive while acid fizzles on the granite outside. Cesca takes Wood aside.

"What are you thinking Corporal? We've got no delivery system for that bomb."

"I know. But making it gives the troops something to do and when it's done we can use it as a rallying symbol."

She pauses for a second.

"Sounds good."

"You okay, Sarge?"

Cesca sighs and rubs her forehead before realising she can't do so with her helmet on.

"Losing people is never easy. And those things ... I think I have a date with a shrink in the near future. Any luck with communications?"

"We're completely cut off. Command probably won't even realise something's wrong until the scheduled check in."

"So we have to survive four hours, plus however long it takes Command to get some armour planetside."

"Pretty much. You think armour will do the trick?"

"It'll have to."

"Sarge! Bomb's ready!"

Cesca goes over to inspect the crude explosive, just to have Wood pick it up and head to the edge of the cover zone.

"Wood! The hell are you doing?"

"I just had an idea for a delivery system."

"What is it?"

In response Wood takes the bomb under his arm and walks out of cover, right into the path of the Thresher Maw.

"Wood! Get the fuck back here!"

The Maw dives on him, engulfing him in its mouth. Three seconds later an enormous blast echoes from the Maw's innards and it recoils, roaring in pain.

"Now! Open fire!"

As the worm is staggered the remaining five members of her team fill the air with lead, bullets and biotic bursts flying towards the distant Thresher Maw. It roars and tries to spit acid but the jet merely dribbles out the mouth, the bomb clearly having done a great deal of damage to the delicate apparatus that allowed the Maw to fling its acid. It responds by lunging at them, trying to crush them beneath its bulk as they duck back behind cover.

"Where's Toombs?"

And then there were four.

PRESENT DAY

Cesca stares at the wall, earlier amorous activities forgotten as she hugs her knees.

"You know I've never told anyone what happened on the surface. Whenever anyone asked me about it I ... I just couldn't."

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

She shakes her head as if trying to dislodge a particularly tenacious thought.

"No. I want to keep going. I've wanted to tell someone for so long ... I don't know why I didn't."

She pauses for a second to collect herself before continuing with her story.

SIX YEARS AGO

The Thresher Maw rears up above the rocks, poised to bring its body smashing down.

"Move!"

They dash to the side, Cesca leading the way, the others following. Mbengu, weighed down by his medigel supplies, isn't quite fast enough, disappearing beneath the enormous bulk of the worm. There's no way he survived. The remaining three dash across the sand, making a beeline for a larger rock formation about four hundred metres away. The worm rears up again, eyes fixing on the three sprinting figures, coiling up in preparation of lunging. Petrov's luck runs out. The worm wraps its tongue around him, yanking him into the air and moments later into its mouth.

Two to go.

They finally make it to the rocks, scrambling up the steep incline, trying to make it out of reach of the Maw. It circles around, trying to find a way to get to them, screeching. Olychenka rests her hands on her knees, panting for air.

"I think we're high and dry, Sarge."

The Thresher Maw must have thrown the boulder. It strikes just above their heads, Cesca protected by her kinetic barriers, but a large chunk of rock hits Olychenka on the top of her head, cracking her helmet and making her go down hard. Cesca immediately grabs her and drags her further up the rocks, out of range of the Maw, before taking off her helmet. There is a mass of sticky redness in the hair of the tiny Ukrainian woman, her eyes are closed and her breathing is shallow, irregular.

"Come on Nastya. Stay with me."

With no medigel there's nothing she can do. She lets herself cry now, remembering her squad, their banter and their petty arguments. All lost in the space of half an hour. It wasn't fair. She cries, she screams her rage to the heavens, she shoots at the sand until she is out of heat sinks then throws the guns after the bullets. Eventually she is out of energy, so she lies down, shifts the unconscious Olychenka's head onto her chest and sleeps. That's how the recovery crew finds her the next morning, asleep, with her arms around a corpse.

PRESENT DAY

Cesca is lying beside me, one hand clutching mine, the other clutching the bedsheets as tears run down her face and soak into the pillow. I don't know what to do. I'm still trying to process what happened on Akuze. I'd never considered it in that much detail. All my Shepards in Mass Effect were Spacer/War Hero so I wasn't too familiar with that story, but I know the game never went into that level of detail.

I shift one arm around her, cradling her as she continues to weep, her tears now darkening my shirt instead of her sheets as she leans into me. I gently kiss her forehead, whispering to her, meaningless phrases of comfort and commiseration. Eventually her tears dry up and her breathing evens out, indicating she is asleep. Her face looks peaceful, composed, a far cry from the rictus of grief she had been wearing earlier. With her warm body snuggled into mine I find myself drifting off as well, my eyelids slowly drooping closed. I'll just rest for twenty minutes or so.

I am awoken by the door buzzing.

"Commander, we're at the Citadel. Liara and Melanis are waiting for you to take them to get weapons."

Ah shit. When I fell asleep we were eight hours away from the Citadel. Cesca shifts in my arms.

"I'll be right out. Just give me a sec to get dressed."

"Of course, Commander."

I can hear Garrus moving away from the door as Cesca wriggles out of my embrace.

"Look alive, Ivan. We've got some errands to run."

"Lucky us."

I slide out of the bed and quickly dash down the corridor to my room, changing into a T-shirt and jeans before heading back out to meet Cesca at the staircase leading up to the CIC. When we get to the airlock Melanis is leaning against the door, fingers drumming impatiently on the wall, and Liara is nervously pacing.

"Alright you two, let's go get you armed up."

We take a shuttle to Creative Destructive and are greeted at the door by a cheerful looking Maya.

"Hi, Commander! What can we do for you today?"

She gestures at Liara and Melanis.

"These two need some armour and weapons."

Maya beckons to them.

"Come in, come in. I take it you want custom armour?"

I wander away from the excitable Quarian and her two customers and go to browse the selection of guns. I round a corner and there it is in a display case, glass being lovingly polished by Kee, the female twin. The M-622 'Avalanche' cryo grenade launcher. Prices start at 1,000,000 credits.

"One million? That's pretty pricey."

Kee jumps and turns to me.

"Oh, hi Ivan. I didn't see you there. Yes, Nary and Taurn came up with this. They're really difficult to make but we've already sold two and they've only been in stock twenty four hours. Would you like a demonstration?"

"Yeah, why not."

She leads me through a door marked 'Firing Range'. The range is similar to the one in the Spectre offices in ME3 but contains several moving dummies of various species. Kee picks up an Avalanche sitting on a stand and hands it to me. I take up a firing stance and squeeze the trigger.

The launcher has almost no recoil, which surprises me a little, and the grenade flies in a shallow arc to impact on the floor. The explosion of pure white snap freezes three dummies, which Kee shatters with a trio of pistol shots from an M-77 Paladin. I carefully place the Avalanche back on the stand and glance over at Kee.

"That is one beautiful weapon."

She turns to me and nods.

"Would you like to try out anything else?"

Over the next hour I fire an M-100 grenade launcher, an Artimec-pattern railgun, an M-98 Widow, an M-76 Revenant, an M-99 Saber, an M-300 Claymore and an M-77 Paladin as well as a sniper rifle I don't recognise called the M-59 Blowback. Then Liara and Melanis come into the firing range to try out their new weapons.

Liara is carrying an M-5 Phalanx pistol and Melanis is decked out with an M-22 Eviscerator and an M-6 Carnifex. Melanis shows Liara how to fire her gun, demonstrating a Turian firing stance and adjusting her aim slightly, letting her fire a few shots before demonstrating how to manage the recoil. Liara's next shots are much more accurate, the majority hitting the dummy centre mass. I don't get Melanis. It's very difficult to reconcile the patient, quiet teacher I am seeing now with the unstable revenge-obsessed killer I saw on the Normandy. As I watch, Liara and Melanis unleash a flurry of biotics on the dummies, culminating in Liara putting down a Singularity that Melanis detonates with a biotic charge. So Melanis is a Vanguard. Interesting.

My Omnitool buzzes and I recieve a message from Cesca.

All ground team, meet at Pachenkov's at 1830 hrs - FCS

Pachenkov's is a fancy chain restaurant on the Presidium. Seems like Cesca has booked us a dinner. Moments later another message comes in.

Ivan, Garrus, meet me at C-sec HQ - FCS

Leaving Liara and Melanis to wreak havoc on unsuspecting dummies, I hail a cab to C-sec HQ. When I arrive I see Cesca and Garrus going toe to toe with a Turian detective.

"I am a Spectre, Tali is a member of my crew and you have no right to hold her!"

"Ma'am, please calm down. Your Quarian friend has been arrested for suspicious loitering. If you would please follow me ..."

Garrus grabs the detective by the cowl.

"We're going to see Tali now. If you try and stop us we can call down a Krogan Battlemaster, two of the best Marines in the Alliance, a biotic nutcase with a sword and a psychotic Cabal Vanguard. Or we'll just deal with you ourselves."

Cesca rests her hand on Garrus's shoulder.

"Calm down Garrus. We'll get Tali and get out of here without bloodshed."

I stride over to the small group.

"What's going on here?"

"C-sec arrested Tali for being Quarian."

I resist the urge to restructure the face of the Turian detective blocking our path. I knew Quarians weren't the most popular species on the Citadel but being arrested for an arbitrary reason seems a bit extreme for me, indicative of institutional racism. The blundering bastard in our path has no idea how close he is to being steamrolled.

An Asari in C-sec uniform approaches us.

"I'll handle this. Dismissed, Sidarian."

The Turian slips away, leaving us confronted with the Asari detective.

"I overheard your little debate. I can't do anything to help, but if you used your Spectre authority to have the suspect released, then nobody could argue with you. If you'll follow me."

She leads us to a holding cell where Tali is sitting morosely. She looks up as we approach.

"About time. I was almost going to hack myself out of here."

The Asari opens the cell.

"I'm really sorry about this. My bondmate is a Quarian. The number of times I've had to bail him for something he didn't do ..."

"Thank you for your help."

"Anytime."

As we are in the elevator away from C-sec academy Garrus sinks his fist into the wall, the impact startling us.

"Garrus?"

"Sorry Commander. This racist crap just pisses me off."

Cesca nods.

"Me too. But keep it together in public. If you need to hit something I'll get Williams to set up some punchbags back on the Normandy."

"Sorry Commander."

I have a sneaking suspicion there's more to it than that, but for now I hold off mentioning anything.

To pass the time between now and dinner, the four of us find a quiet spot and sit down to play Hammer of the Valluvians for a bit. Say what you will about Turians, they make a damn good shoot-em-up. Tali, as usual, picks the Turian Defender as her character, Garrus picks the Volus Longshooter and Cesca selects the Asari Vanquisher. I briefly scroll through the Human characters. Human Ambusher, Human Convict, Human Spy - yep, definitely a Turian game. I select the Salarian Stalker again and immediately find myself running away from three of Tali's combat drones. I am starting to form the impression that the Turian characters are a bit overpowered.

An hour and a half later we get up and head toward the restaurant. For the first half hour Garrus's Volus character dominated us all again until I figured out I could actually kill Tali's character and take over her control station, where I tasked her combat drones on suicide runs toward Garrus's position, then snuck up while he was preoccupied and pulled the faceplate off his suit. The pop sound of Garrus's character exploding became something of a regular feature for the next half hour, until Garrus actually started covering Tali at her control station. With them double-teaming me I couldn't get near Tali without getting my Salarian head exploded until Cesca came blazing in, unleashing a flurry of biotic attacks that lit up Garrus's position like bonfire night, allowing me to slip in and take out Tali. Then, naturally, she turned on me. Despite spending the first forty five minutes of the game passively observing us, by the end of the game Cesca's kill count was more than double Garrus's, who was second.

The restaurant is quite quiet as we arrive, the only other occupants being a Turian couple and an Asari with her two daughters. We are the first to arrive, with Wrex arriving a couple of minutes later, then Kaidan and Ashley and finally Melanis and Liara. As we take a seat Cesca stands up.

"Okay, no ordering something that originates from your culture. That's the rule."

Now I'm intrigued. What's she up to? There are a couple of grumbles but nobody's actively complaining, which is a good thing, although I get the distinct impression Ash is fighting the urge to start spouting xenophobia.

I glance down at the menu. I really have no idea what to order, so I close my eyes and place my finger randomly on the card. Batarian Shard Wine. Hmm, perhaps not. I try again. Ryncol on the rocks. Again, methinks not. Kalari? No, that's dextro. Rupari? Also dextro. Korbant? I look at the description. A mild Krogan spirit normally drunk by Krogan that have yet to reach full maturity. 60% alcohol, contains 0.1% radioactives. Not recommended for non-Krogan. Maybe not. Oh, to hell with it. Batarian Shard Wine it is. I look at the foods, eventually picking a Krogan dish that looks like the kind of thing I'd like - slabs of barely cooked meat, seasoned with a little bit of Asari spices and cheeses, served with a kind of sweet pepper called the

Khar'Shan Incinerator and the Salarian equivalent of potato salad. Could be interesting. The damn thing's more than I'd usually eat in a day, but since my newfound biotic abilities started seeing heavy use I've found myself needing more and more food. Having made my decision I glance around the table. It appears Cesca made an exception for Garrus and Melanis because the only dextro cuisine was Turian, but in the spirit of things Garrus is discussing the merits of Human-style braised kuhurki steaks with Tali and Melanis has gone ahead and ordered a Salarian dish, since she has no reaction to levo food. Ash and Wrex both look decidedly grumpy, frowning at the menus like they made insinuations about the parentage of their holders, while Cesca and Kaidan are interrogating Liara about Asari wine. One big happy family.

Once our orders are taken, the table lapses into an easy silence. Eventually Cesca starts speaking.

"You know, I noticed something interesting about us recently."

I glance over at her, intrigued.

"We're all starting to mix up our cultures."

Ash narrows her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

She gestures over at Ash, who is leaning forward, her chin jutting out and her shoulders hunched up.

"You're doing it right now. When you're annoyed you lean forward, tilt your head upwards and raise your shoulders, which if I'm not mistaken is Quarian body language. You combine it with sucking in your cheeks and making a low humming sound, which appears to be a mimicry of Turian subharmonics and mandible movements. And yesterday when your assault rifle jammed at the firing range you called it a spirits-damned bosh'tet."

Ash leans back and rubs her forehead.

"Huh. I guess you're right."

I decide to join in with the conversation, since I've noticed a couple of things like that too.

"I noticed both Garrus and Tali have taken to rolling their eyes, which is a very Human expression, and Garrus smiles when he's happy or amused like a Human, even though in Turian culture baring your teeth is a sign of aggression."

Garrus looks momentarily surprised, then thoughtful.

"Huh. That might explain why my sister got so grouchy the last time I called her. But you're right. I also noticed Wrex using Quarian body language, which if you ask me makes him about fifty per cent scarier."

Melanis glances up.

"What's per cent?"

Garrus scratches his mandible.

"It's the human equivalent of in milium, except it uses a scale to one hundred instead of one thousand."

"Ah."

Until our meals arrive we continue discussing ways in which we are starting to incorporate the mannerisms of other species into our day to day interactions. Then it's food time. My meal is set in front of me, the heady scent rising off it giving me pause. The blood red slab of meat is coated in a thin orange layer liberally sprinkled with thin slivers of a silver vegetable and little blue specks of herb, the deep purplish potato-like things sitting innocuously on the side. The drink is a very dark red, thin silvery slivers floating around in it. All eyes are on me.

"Holy shit Ivan. You ordered Shard Wine?"

I shrug and raise the glass, suddenly aware that the entire restaurant has their attention firmly on me and my glass of Batarian Shard Wine. I put it to my lips. Kaidan keys up a dose of medigel on his omnitool. Here goes.

I take a sip, allow the flavour to spread across my tongue. Huh. The liquid itself is ice cold and quite pleasant, having a faint pear flavour, but every time one of the silvery things touches my tongue it feels like a point of fire on my skin, suffusing my mouth with a pleasant heat that sends shivers down my spine as it burns away merrily. I swallow, the drink leaving a slightly bitter aftertaste as it passes down my throat, one that fades after a few seconds. I glance up at the sea of disbelieving faces.

"What? It's quite nice actually."

Wrex is the first to speak.

"Give me that, pyjak. No way that's Shard Wine."

I pass over the glass. He very apprehensively takes a sip then passes the glass over to me. Moments later his face contorts into agony.

"Water! Water!"

He grabs the entire bottle of water and upends it into his mouth, draining almost the whole litre bottle before he stops.

"That's Shard Wine all right. How the hell did you do that?"

I take another sip.

"What?"

After that little commotion we turn to our meals. After a little nibble on the Salarian potatoes I decide the amphibians can keep them, so I focus my attention on the very rare steak, taking a small forkful, the cheese flavour almost like parmesan complementing the rich, lean steak with the same fiery zing as the Shard Wine coming from the silver vegetable sprinkled in the cheese, the bitter aftertaste masked by the Asari herbs and spices. All in all, I'm damn glad Cesca told me to pick a non-human dish. This steak is insane.

I take another sip of wine, really starting to enjoy the flavours. The soft fruity taste, halfway between a pear and an apple, combines perfectly with the infernal heat and sharp flavour of the silver peppers. And calling it an infernal heat is saying something because I like my food spicy. A lot spicy. Let me illustrate it this way - I once won five hundred pounds in a bet by knocking back five shots of Tabasco, and I only stopped because we ran out of Tabasco. I put jalapeño peppers in every sandwich I ate since I was seven. And let me tell you something, the Batarians put Marilyn Monroe to shame when it comes to liking it hot. The silver peppers have enough juice to make a jalapeño run for mummy, hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the four eyes sweat Tabasco. This stuff is right up my street.

I glance around the table. Tali is sitting there, looking curiously around as she sucks mush out of a sterile tube. Wrex is inflicting GBH on a steak the size of my torso. Kaidan and Ash are both cheerfully chowing down on their Asari fish dishes. Cesca is munching on what looks like pyjak, Garrus is delicately nibbling on an unidentified piece of meat and looking on in utter horror as Melanis tucks into a Salarian leaf salad, Liara beside her inhaling a spaghetti carbonara. Of all my memories I'll have aboard the Normandy this is one of the ones I'll cherish the most. Just the ground team sitting here, eating alien food and generally being friends. I look over and hear Tali strike up a hushed conversation with a mortified Garrus.

"What's wrong?"

"That. A Turian eating leaves. That is a sight that gives Turian parents nightmares! Turians do not eat plants!"

"On the flotilla our diet is ninety nine per cent algae, grown on the liveships. When we do get our hands on meat it usually goes to the Marines, since they need the protein."

I look around again and see Ash looking wryly at Wrex.

"Exactly how much meat do you need?"

He looks at her for a moment then replies.

"A Krogan diet is about six thousand calories a day. I'm biotic on top of that which means I need closer to ten."

She raises one eyebrow.

"Huh. Lugging around the supplies for an army must be a logistical nightmare."

"Not so much. We can store water and nutrients in our hump. If we overeat for a couple of days beforehand we can go up to two weeks without food before it affects our combat performance. Besides, we don't really field big armies any more. Not since those Salarian pyjaks neutered us."

I don't remember Wrex being this talkative in the games. Plus, Ash initiating conversation with him? Very strange indeed.

We finish up our meals and Cesca orders us all coffee, something which is apparently universal to all cultures. The drink of the warrior. Then our not so little band of brothers (and sisters; with the unexpected arrival of Melanis us men are outnumbered) head off to the schmancy hotel we have appropriated.

Halfway there Cesca stops and glances down at her Omnitool. Then the colour drains from her face. That's not good.

"Alright everyone, shore leave truncated. Back to the Normandy on the double, prep for immediate deployment."

As the grumbling team about faces I take a peek at the message on her Omnitool.

Ah. I remember this one.

Time to go meet Corporal Toombs.


	15. Chapter 15

The whole ship is tense as we hurtle towards our blast from Cesca's past. To distract myself I decide to go and seek out Tali. At the moment she's in her cabin so I head over. She's two doors down from me but she barely spends any time there, instead preferring to hang around in Engineering. I listen outside the door for a moment, hear the clattering of tech and so I knock. Moments later the door slides open and Tali looks up at me.

"Hi Ivan, come in."

I step inside and glance around her room. The bed has a tangle of blankets piled up on it that look almost nestlike, with richly woven Quarian tapestries hanging on every wall and mood lighting everywhere, the room lit almost entirely by lava lamps. One wall has been given over to an enormous haptic interface with schematics for various gadgets on it and her desk has been almost tripled in size and covered in a sort of semi-organised chaos of assorted dismantled bits of tech. Tali herself is perched on a chair, blinking owlishly at me as I gawp.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Actually yes. I noticed that with the Commander, me and now Liara we have three squad members with roughly equivalent skill sets and you seem to be the person to talk to if I want to expand mine."

"So basically you're looking for tech upgrades."

"Pretty much."

She perks up at the suggestion.

"Hmm ... Let's see. Overload is an obvious choice, it's the basics of any tech arsenal, but asides from that I see no reason not to be a little ... creative."

The thought fills me with terror.

"Please say you're not about to go Admiral Xen on me."

"How do you know about Admiral Xen?"

Oh shit, backtrack, backtrack.

"Martin was very interested in Quarian culture. I picked up a few things."

"Ok. So, tech. As I was saying, an Overload module would help out a lot against shielded enemies, and probably a hacking suite for doors and Geth that need hacking. Did you have anything else in mind?"

"Yes. I was thinking maybe an Incinerate module for anti-armour, considering I never got the hang of Warping stuff, and perhaps a couple of other odds and ends."

She taps her chin thoughtfully.

"How about a cloak? I should think a disappearing act would be pretty useful in a swordfight."

A cloak? What have I done to deserve the awesome?

"Wow, you're serious?"

"Yes. I can make one for you if you'd like."

"Wow. Um, yeah, that'd be awesome."

"What kind do you want? You can have the tactical cloak, which links in to boost the power of your weapon when you fire from cloak, or there's the infiltration cloak, which doesn't have the damage boost but can be used indefinitely."

I thought tactical cloaks were awesome, but that infiltration cloak? No-brainer.

"I'll go with the infiltration cloak. I don't think tactical cloaks work too well with swords anyhow."

She sits down at her workbench again, already starting to grab parts and pieces from the haphazard piles of tech that are scattered around.

"Thanks very much for this, Tali."

"Anytime, Ivan. I appreciate the challenge."

I leave her to work and decide to check on Cesca. She hasn't left her cabin since we got back on board. I knock on the door.

"I'm busy right now."

"Cesca, it's me."

Moments later the access panel turns green and I step through and into her cabin. She is looking at a framed picture of ten people. Her squad from Akuze.

"What's going on?"

She looks up at me with a very odd expression on her face.

"We're on our way to investigate a couple of Alliance biologists who've been murdered."

"So why are you looking at a picture of your squad from Akuze?"

"DNA evidence says the killer is one of my old squad."

"But it couldn't be, right?"

She drops her arms and sighs.

"I really don't know what to think. I never saw him get killed by the Maw, but they told me I was the only survivor. What if they were wrong?"

It's now that I see how close she is to breaking. She had thought she'd finally put her ghosts behind her and not twenty four hours later they rear up to smack her in the face. Right now what she needs is a distraction.

"I went to talk to Tali about getting some tech skills, considering our team has an over abundance of biotics. She's making me a cloak."

For a moment she frowns and I fear I've misjudged, then she nods.

"I had the same thought, and to be honest I've always wanted a cloak. Maybe she could make one for me too."

"Maybe, but right now I think we have other things to be getting on with."

"Like what?"

"Picking up where we left off."

She looks momentarily surprised, then a cheeky grin steals onto her face.

"Is that a proposition?"

"Well, if you'd rather I go hit on Melanis I'm sure Dr. Chakwas can reattach my limbs."

"Come here you."

Suddenly thoughts about Corporal Toombs seem very far away.

###

Damn, I love this thing. Walking through the Normandy completely invisible is ridiculously awesome. And perfect for pranks. Ash and Kaidan are in the mess hall drinking coffee. I've seen the amount of sugar that woman puts in her coffee and suddenly an idea hits me. Careful not to make a sound I switch round the sugar pot and the salt pot as Ash reaches for them. I'm pretty sure Kaidan sees but he doesn't react. Ash tips a generous amount of salt into her coffee and idly stirs it while discussing specialised ammunition with the Lieutenant, seemingly oblivious to his attempt to hide his amusement. Then she takes a sip of coffee and immediately sprays it across the room as I decloak and join Kaidan in roaring in laughter. The two of us howl like schoolkids as Ash barely restrains her fury. Cesca comes out of her cabin, bemused at the commotion.

"What's going on?"

Kaidan and I are too busy laughing to reply so Ash fills her in, sounding mightily petulant.

"They switched the sugar with the salt."

Cesca infers the rest for herself after observing the stream of coffee splattered across the mess hall and cracks up as well. I finally manage to regain control of my breathing long enough to watch the video I captured on my Omnitool in slow motion, her taking the sip, then her face twisting into a rictus of disgust before expelling the coffee from betwixt her chops in glorious 10x slow. It sends me into fresh fits of laughter as I send the video to every member of the ground team.

Once I've stopped laughing my next port of call is the cargo bay. Garrus is at the weapon bench, working on modding his sniper rifle, components spread everywhere, all aligned in that pseudo-OCD way I am learning is the norm among Turians. I sneak up and slightly misalign a component every time he looks away. He realigns the component with a muted mutter about going insane, and the next time he looks away I move another one. The process continues for about five more minutes, his reactions getting funnier and funnier until finally he twigs.

"Whoever has the cloak please stop it."

I drop cloak and grin at him as he snarls in his throat.

"Took you long enough."

"I'd really like to smash your face in."

"Please don't."

I suddenly notice that the ship has landed.

"Commander, what's going on?"

After a couple of seconds Joker replies.

"She's on the ground taking care of some 'personal business' right now. She said to wait for her here."

Huh. Okay.

Garrus taps me on the shoulder.

"Hey Ivan. Want to play Hammer?"

I shake my head.

"No. I'm going to introduce you to some Human games."

After a little deliberation we fire up Destiny's Relays, the specialised program scanning the cargo bay and seconds later filling it with a randomly generated holographic battlefield. Think Warhammer 40K but on a table almost eighty metres long and fifty across.

"Alright Vakarian. You're going down."

I select my team, the Raachok, an army of spiny armoured aliens looking like a cross between a lizard and a porcupine appearing on my Omnitool, allowing me to customise my army's squads and armour. On the other side of the room Garrus has picked the Atavira, the obligatory scantily clad sexy alien chicks from every sci-fi game. I deploy my forces, assault units up front under the cover of a shield bubble tank, then strike drones for support, three squadrons of ORB recon speeders, the mass of ranged infantry, four Whiplash medium tanks, two Wolfbane heavy tanks, a squadron of heavy drones for air support with a bite and finally the grim mass of an eight legged behemoth, my drone carrier. On the other side of the map Garrus has set up his lovely ladies in a cluster of burned out factories, assault troops up front, sharpshooters and heavy weapons troops entrenched on the upper floors of the building, two squadrons of stealth recon bikes in the flanks and three hover tanks for close in support, plus an IFSA fouler to prevent me from just sitting back and shelling the shit out of his position and a sleek squadron of high speed fighter/bombers grounded at the rear of his impromptu fortifications. The Atavira, on account of their minimal armour, can't take much fire but they make up for it with excellent cover discipline and long range weaponry, whereas my Raachok are brute force maulers, using their ranged firepower mostly for suppression to allow their assault units, heavy armour and drones to get right up close to the enemy.

This is going to be fun.

###

I watch up close, using the expanded view on my Omnitool, as a Raachok assault trooper leaps over a barricade, flinging his taser net midair at an unfortunate Atavira sharpshooter. The tendrils wrap around her and the electric field fries her nervous system, instantly paralysing her. The Raachok moments later executes her with a single headshot from his particle pistol before leaping into the air again, only to be shot dead by another of Garrus's snipers. Over the first half of the match his ladies did one hell of a lot of damage to my infantry, heavy weapons and sharpshooters taking out half of any squad that came within range, then his accursed fighter/bombers obliterating the survivors, denying me the ability to cut my losses. My attempt to advance an infantry unit under cover of my shield bubble tank was ruined when he sent his stealth bikes in, obliterating the infantry in a hit and run at close range before slapping a bomb to my shield bubble tank, blowing the whole thing up. In the end I sacrificed three Assault squads to lure his air support into a crossfire from four heavy weapons squads, all toting heavy particle beams that sliced through the armour with disturbing ease. After that Garrus had to settle for taking potshots at my squads. I swarmed his assault squads with light drones, taking heavy losses on approach but then once they closed the range he hesitated to fire, unwilling to bring rockets down on his own assault people. At that point the Atavira suffered from their strange desire to expose as much of their bodies as possible, the pulse cannon on my drones ripping through them with ease as their light weapons proved utterly useless against my armoured drones. Of course, as soon as his assaults were slaughtered he brought the rain on my drones but it really made no difference. A couple of drone wings for his entire frontline? No contest. After that all he really had left were three medium tanks and his sharpshooters, allowing me to spearhead a charge with my whole armoured contingent, cannon and particle beam fire preceding the charging tanks like rain from hell, smashing what little remained of his defensive line and wreaking havoc on his heavies. Then I sent in my own assault units, the heavily armoured backbreakers swarming the remains of the Atavira forces. Their tanks were knocked out by my heavy drones, which proceeded to open up on the defenders with their heavy pulse cannon, and while the squadrons of stealth bikes did do a good deal of damage, ultimately they were no match for my more combat oriented ORB bikers. Which leads me to where I am now, pushing his last few squads into a last ditch defence around the IFSA fouler. Unwilling to muck around any longer I just march my drone carrier right over them, assault troops rappelling down from the belly, raining taser nets and particle pulses on the unfortunate defenders. They don't last much longer. A solid victory.

Spoke too soon. The IFSA fouler goes up in a mushroom cloud that, despite the small scale, reaches almost to my shoulders.

Post battle results

Atavira losses - Total

Raachok losses - Total

Result - Even draw

"You put a nuke trap under your fouler? That's low."

"Hey, it changed the result from a decisive victory to an even draw. I'll take it."

We are interrupted from our gaming by an announcement that Cesca is back aboard. I immediately deactivate my Omnitool and head into the lift to see her.

When I get up to the crew deck she is helping a limping man in outdated and battered armour into the medbay, someone who I assume is Toombs. She is talking to him in a soft undertone as he looks around with wild eyes, seeming to share the demeanour of a rabbit surrounded by foxes. Cesca hands him over to Dr. Chakwas and then exits the medbay, heading straight for her cabin. I have half a mind to follow her but then I decide against it, instead going back down to the cargo bay and joining Garrus for another game of Destiny's Relays, this time with me playing as the Seu'Seun, a race of cybernetic organisms, and Garrus once again selecting the Atavira. Twenty minutes into the game and Garrus has locked down over 75% of the cargo bay with intersecting sharpshooter and anti tank squads in bombed out buildings, his substantial air force repeatedly strafing my gun platforms as what's left of my infantry hides in portable shields and my heavy gunships are obliterated by his anti air tank. Wrex and Ash are watching with interest as one of my gunships goes down, plowing into one of my portable shields and taking out three squads of assault troops with it. Picking the Seu'Seun was a mistake, the Atavira phased plasma snipers just cut through their armour with ease and they're too slow to respond to Garrus's kill box tactics.

I glance around as I hear the elevator arriving and Cesca steps out, seemingly taken aback by the way in which the cargo bay has been transformed into a miniature battleground.

"What's this?"

"Destiny's Relays. I'm getting my ass kicked, goddamn Seu'Seun can't manoeuvre worth shit."

She leans against the weapon bench, yawning but seemingly taking interest in my inevitable demise.

"So your giant robots are getting routed by a bunch of naked ladies?"

"Hey, these naked ladies have phased plasma rifles."

"Of course."

"Hey, I bet if you were wearing nothing but a phased plasma rifle you could still kick my ass six ways to Sunday."

She strikes a greatly exaggerated 'deep thoughts' pose and nods sagely.

"Words of great wisdom from one so young."

A gunshot rings out. We all instinctively dive for cover. When no more shots are forthcoming I slowly peek out from behind the Mako.

"The hell was that?"

The comm connects and I can hear Dr. Chakwas's voice, usually soothing, take on a flat, dead tone.

"Commander Shepard to the medbay please."

We all go, unsure of what we'll find, the age old instinct of safety in numbers kicking in as we cram the five of us into the elevator. We spill out into the crew deck, Cesca taking the lead as we stride to the medbay. Cesca just stops in the door.

"I'm sorry Commander. I couldn't stop him in time."

She turns on the spot and shoves through us, disappearing round the corner. I take a glimpse in through the door. There is a shape lying under a blood spattered sheet and a large splat of sticky red and grey on the ceiling that mingles its scent with the ozone smell of a weapon discharge. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

And once again Cesca is the sole survivor of Akuze.

A/N: I'm very sorry about the very late update. Recently I've been caught up in reading 'Spirit of Redemption' which, by the way, is the closest thing FF has to compulsory reading. At 3404k words it's a lot of story and definitely worth it. Also in response to an interesting question asked by one of my in real life proof readers - if I were in the Mass Effect universe I would definitely be a Salarian.


	16. Chapter 16

Nobody spoke on the Normandy for the next hour, going about their duties with mechanical precision, faces wooden. We are heading back to the Citadel - Liara and Melanis's armours are ready and we need to pick them up before the next mission. Inexorably I find my attention drawn back to my pendant. At first I had tried to push what happened to the back of my mind, fearing I was going insane, but slowly becoming more and more convinced that whatever it was that happened in that hotel on the Presidium could hold the key to deciphering exactly how I got here. The knowledge I could go back anytime was nice, but to be honest, I didn't really want to go back to my life in 2013 anyway, especially not since the start of my relationship with Cesca. And I want to know more about the space in between. I have a feeling that if I wanted I could see everything happening in both universes at once, something that could prove incredibly useful in our hunt. Given the departures from canon that I have already seen I'm not sure exactly how reliant I could be on my prior knowledge.

I am in my cabin, lying on my bed, fingers closed around my pendant. There it is. The tingle of biotic energy, slowly building. I hear the hiss of the door opening. Oh cattle-fucking shit on a shit stick! I forgot to lock the cattle-fucking door!

"Ivan, can we ..."

Cesca stops short as she sees the almost blinding blue glow, hand instinctively coming up to shield her eyes. It's too late to stop. I only have one thing on my mind as I cross the bridge. Cesca knows.

There is a burst of light and when my vision equilibrates again, there she is. Right in front of me, looking round at the coruscating threads of fates that exist around us in their layers, her demeanour reminding me of someone convinced they've finally lost it. I call out to get her attention.

Cesca.

The word seems to twist in the air, hissing like a snake as she turns to look at me.

This is it. I've gone insane.

No. Let me explain.

And I tell her everything. Me and Martin finding the pendants in the field, arriving here. Our knowledge of the universe, the characters. She listens to me, a close, guarded expression, blank eyes. Her Commander mask.

I don't know what to think.

Her voice is slightly wavery and sibilant, cutting through me like an icy wind.

Let me show you.

Knowledge I didn't know I possessed is slowly unfurling in my mind as I swim up to hover just under the threads from Cesca's universe. She follows me, curiosity apparently being the strongest of the swathe of conflicting emotions that must be going through her head right now. I reach out and touch a thread, bringing it out and towards me, dissecting it.

This is Kino Remotus, a Salarian air traffic controller on the Citadel. Every day he gets up in the morning and bolts down breakfast before jogging to the ATC tower. He directs shipping, from personal shuttles to Elcor bulk haulers to Turian dreadnoughts, safely to their berths for the next thirteen hours, pausing only for a fifteen minute bathroom and energy drink break midway through his shift. Once his time is done he grabs dinner at a fast food stand on his way home and then sneaks into his flat by the fire escape to avoid the screaming matches between his Asari roommate and her Batarian boyfriend in the front room. Once the Batarian storms off he ventures out into the rest of the flat. If his roommate got punched he applies medigel to her face, if she got forced again he lies her down on the couch and wraps blankets around her, leaving her to cry on the sofa while he heats up some soup for her. Then once she is in bed and asleep he plays Kepesh-Yakshi online with his clutch-brothers on Sur'Kesh, then goes to sleep. One and a half hours later he is up again and on his way to the ATC tower.

I reach out and find another thread, this one slightly thicker, not as coarse to the touch as Kino. Vayya'Rima vas Pellis nar Charoch, the captain of the Pellis, a repurposed Asari cruiser in the Migrant fleet. She wakes up in the endless midnight of space, eats with her crew, deals with the admin of five hundred people all day, tries to stop her two hundred year old ship from falling apart and then goes back to sleep.

I pull back from the threads, seeing Cesca running one through her fingers.

So you can see everything here?

I don't know. This is the first time I've explored this.

Can you find Saren?

I hadn't thought of that. I start skimming over the threads, running my fingers through them as after a moment Cesca joins in the search.

I can't find him.

Neither can I.

I resist the urge to curse as I take my hands away from the threads. What's the use of seeing everything if you can't find the one thing you need to see? My hands brush over the fates again, almost of their own accord.

Ivan, you need to see this.

So it looks like we're going back to Eden Prime.

###

The air folds in on itself, compressing and expanding to make room for the two shapes that appear in my cabin. My knees feel weak as I stumble back onto the bed. Cesca collapses into the desk chair and looks at me appraisingly.

"Ivan."

"Yeah?"

"What the actual fuck?"

"I genuinely do not know."

We sit in silence for a while. Eventually she gets up and leaves without a word. I can hear her outside talking to Joker on the intercom.

"What's our ETA to the Citadel?"

"One hour, Commander."

"Get Tasserian to deliver the order to our dock then prep for immediate turnaround. We need to get to Eden Prime ASAP."

Canon's really going down the shitter.

I make my way to the cargo bay as we dock at the Citadel and head over to the Mako, where Garrus and Tali are talking in low undertones. As I approach I catch a snatch of their conversation.

"... just walked by like she saw a spirit."

"That's hardly surprising, her friend just shot himself."

"I don't know. I'm getting the feeling there's something else involved here."

I round the corner.

"Hey. Whatcha doing?"

"Fixing up the Mako. How's the Commander?"

"Not so great. She's taking what happened to Toombs really hard."

Garrus nods sagely.

"Yeah. Must be rough, seeing your old war buddy off himself like that. Any idea where we're heading off to in such a hurry?"

"Eden Prime."

There is a rumbling sound as the Normandy undocks from the Citadel, then the main drive flares and we are on our way.

Liara and Melanis come down to get to grips with their new armour, Liara in particular looking quite uncomfortable in the armour plate. Liara has opted for a white and blue design whereas Melanis has gone for plain black with dark blue boots and gauntlets. Moments later Cesca's call comes through the intercom.

"Tali, Ivan, suit up and meet me by the airlock."

I quickly put on my light armour for speed and stealth, clipping my pistol to my belt and my Mattock to my back before experimentally swinging my sword a couple of times. Ready to go.

When I get to the airlock Tali and Cesca are already waiting. She launches into the mission briefing without any preamble.

"Intel suggests there is a highly advanced Geth infiltration unit on Eden Prime. It was fired on by a group of colonists but then disappeared. We have detected an anomalous power signature at these co-ordinates. This is a stealth mission. Let's move."

We hop out the airlock and immediately go to ground as the Normandy soars off, the three of us pressing ourselves into the ground. I hit my cloak and move ahead, keeping my pistol in my hands as I revolve on the spot.

"Clear. Move up."

The two of them move up to me, Cesca almost silently, Tali slightly louder. We follow the pattern for around half an hour until eventually we reach a wide open area with a rocky outcropping at the opposite end. We drop down into cover.

"If I were an advanced Geth platform trying to hide I'd go to that outcropping. Plenty of cover and the only approach is very exposed."

I nod, agreeing with Cesca. If it's hiding there it'll be very difficult to get to.

"I could move up under cloak ..."

Tali shakes her head.

"The ground's too sandy. It will see your footprints."

"Suggestions?"

Cesca thinks about it for a minute.

"Ivan, you cloak. I'll biotically float you across the open zone and drop you right on top of it. Ready?"

Holy shit. Am I seriously doing this?

"Ready."

I guess I am. I toggle my cloak, feeling the biotic power surrounding me as I lift off my feet and float over the open zone. There it is. A single Geth platform, looking heavily damaged, crouching behind the rock, one leg sticking out awkwardly and a gaping hole in the chest. It seems to be holding a slab of metal up to its chest, with something already roughly welded to its shoulder. Wait a second ...

Okay, we can now officially throw out canon.

Because that is a piece of N7 armour plate.

And therefore, that's Legion.

Now I know what to look for I can see it clearly. A Widow sniper rifle, the blue-grey casing betraying its Geth manufacture, a collapsed pulse rifle on the ground. An active Omnitool, sparking as Legion welds the plate to his chest, and the distinctive blue flickering of his Geth Shield Boost ability around his body as he peers out around the rock, seemingly oblivious to my presence. I lightly drop to the ground and then take a risk. I disengage my stealth device and Legion whirls around, Widow instantly trained on my head.

"Are you affiliated with the true Geth or the Heretics?"

Legion says nothing for a full three seconds.

"We are true Geth."

"How many programs are active in your platform?"

"1187 programs currently active in this platform."

So it's definitely Legion. This is unexpected, but not entirely unpleasant. Where Martin was a Tali fan, Legion was always my favourite ME2 NPC.

"What is your mission?"

"Locate Shepard-Commander."

"Why?"

"The actions of the heretics could invite reprisals against all Geth. We wish to avoid this and calculate that Shepard-Commander is the best platform from which to do so."

"How badly is your platform damaged?"

"Our platform's left leg is currently non-operational. All other damage within acceptable parameters."

I briefly rub my head.

"Can you move unassisted?"

"Negative."

I walk over to Legion and put his left arm around my shoulders before hauling him up.

"I'll take you to Commander Shepard."

"Acknowledged."

I tag my radio.

"Cesca, you there?"

"I'm here Ivan. What's the situation?"

"Geth is non-hostile. Repeat, Geth is not hostile. We're coming over."

"Non-hostile? What do you mean, non-hostile!"

I tune out Cesca trying to calm Tali down over the comm and resume my conversation with Legion.

"Does your platform have a specific designation?"

"Negative. We are Geth."

"Hmm. We'll have to come up with something. Organics prefer naming things for ease of recognition."

"We understand. Would 'Platform' be acceptable?"

"Mm, no. Too impersonal. How about Legion?"

"Acknowledged. We are Legion, a terminal of the Geth."

Cesca pops up from behind her rock, followed by an irate-looking Tali.

"Ivan, you bosh'tet, you'd better have a good explanation for this!"

Legion flicks up his top two head flaps.

"We are Legion. If you have any queries you may address us directly."

Both women look speechless as Legion speaks. I interrupt them with a raised finger, a remarkably Turian gesture.

"Look, we can play twenty questions once we're back on the Normandy and Legion's got his leg fixed."

Cesca regains her senses and calls in the Normandy, making sure to warn Joker that we're returning with an unexpected guest. Understandably, he's not very happy about it but eventually Cesca just tells him to shut up and do as he's told.

We are met at the airlock by Ash and Wrex, both in full armour with weapons in hand.

"Shepard. Heard you got yourself a Geth friend."

Ash looks angry, gripping her shotgun a little too tight, but her voice is falsely jovial.

"Commander, if we keep picking up strays we'll need a second Mako."

Legion, perhaps wisely, stays silent as we haul him through the CIC and into the medbay, for want of a better place to put him. Dr. Chakwas blinks at us as we enter.

"Commander, I'm afraid I'm not certified to treat Geth."

Cesca shrugs.

"No worries, I'm sure Tali can fix him up."

She hisses in annoyance, her eyes narrowing beneath her violet faceplate.

"It. I can fix it up."

"Creator Zorah, the pronoun is unimportant."

Garrus leans in and blinks in surprise.

"The Geth can talk?"

"Incorrect. This platform is the only currently active one capable of sound communications. This platform is designated Legion. The correct statement would be 'Legion can talk'."

"Or perhaps 'Legion can correct grammar'."

"This statement is also correct."

I hold up my hands.

"Aah, the banter, the banter. I'm going to go freshen up. See you guys later."

As I am heading to my room my course takes me past the room Liara and Melanis are sharing and through the door I can hear a faint moaning. I know I really shouldn't, but I can't resist. I bang on the door.

"There's a Geth in the medbay!"

I duck into my room as the door bursts open and a very naked Liara and Melanis run towards the medbay clutching guns. Oh, I'm evil.

I sit down at my desk and scratch the back of my neck as I look around my room, before turning back to look at the desk. Sitting there on the corner of the terminal is Martin's pendant. An idea starts to form in the back of my head, clamouring for attention.

###

I knock on the door and it slides open. Cesca has a slight frown on her face as she jerks her head at me to come in.

"What is it, Ivan?"

I make sure the door is closed before I start to talk.

"I want you to have this."

I put Martin's pendant down on the desk and leave without another word.


	17. Chapter 17

I'm not in my usual armour, Cesca insisting we all wear Alliance blue for this one. The chevron and stars symbol is absent from the armour of all the non-Alliance crew but we are still standing at attention, even Wrex holding himself slightly more rigidly than his usual slouch. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

Because opposite us is a line of white-painted Geth platforms.

The Geth frigate is hanging just opposite the Normandy, a shuttle docked onto our airlock as we take aboard the Geth diplomatic platforms, Envoy and Emissary. They are painted a pure white to distinguish themselves from the heretic Geth, a winding black pattern similar to the overwraps of Tali's envirosuit over their plating. Legion and Cesca stand at the end of the corridor formed by the two 'honour guards', waiting to greet the two synthetic diplomats. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but this never happened in the game.

The two platforms stop in front of Cesca and Legion and offer their hands, Cesca shaking them after a moment of hesitation. Next to me, Tali is wound so tight I fear her head is going to pop off, despite the reassuring hand Garrus has on her shoulder.

"Welcome to the Normandy. We will be headed to Arcturus station shortly. Do you and your," she pauses and glances past them at the heavily armed Geth platforms facing us, "support staff have any special requirements?"

"Negative. Our platforms have sufficient energy reserves for one point four seven one Earth orbits before recharge becomes necessary. We thank you for your concern."

The speaker is the platform on the left, Emissary, I think. His voice is much lower than Legion's and he speaks quickly, with a clipped, brusque demeanour. The one on the right, Envoy, remains silent. The two can be distinguished by their colouring. Emissary's hands and feet are black, whereas Envoy's are not, and Envoy has a black swirl on his neck that is absent on Emissary. In addition, both of the diplomats have writing in a flowing script just different enough from Keelish to confound my VI translator around their upper arms.

Cesca leads the Geth entourage deeper into the ship and the honour guard disperses. Tali immediately removes her Alliance blue overwraps, replacing them with her customary violet ones. Her movements are stiff and jerky, betraying her anger as she storms off. I jerk my head at Garrus, then pointedly look after her. He takes the hint and follows her, catching her arm and exchanging quiet words with her. She seems to be a little less livid after the conversation, but I fear there may be an 'incident' before we get to Arcturus station. Hopefully Garrus can keep her calm until our new friends have disembarked.

I head on down to the mess hall to grab a snack. I am halfway there when suddenly something hits me from below and I find myself stuck to the ceiling by a massive swathe of a putty-like substance, more of which is being sprayed on me by a set of nozzles at floor level. Goddamn that stuff is disgusting! I hear laughter and look back up the stairwell to see Ash, Liara and Melanis all laughing at me.

"Oh, so this is revenge, is it?"

Ash taps her Omnitool and the putty flakes off as I drop to the floor. Moments later my Omnitool hums and I find myself treated to a slow motion video of my face as I am unceremoniously blasted skyward and then sprayed upon by foul smelling goop. Even I have to admit it's pretty hilarious.

"Touché. I should expect everyone on the ship is receiving a copy?"

Melanis nods an affirmative before doubling over in another fit of laughter. I leave the three harpies behind and head down to the crew deck, just in time to catch Garrus being ejected out of Tali's room. He looks dejected as he walks past.

"How'd it go?"

"She's very, very angry, and a little bit scared as well. I don't think she plans on exiting her room any time soon."

I sigh.

"I'll go see if I can mash some sense through her skull. Wish me luck?"

"You're going to need it."

The lock is red, but easily hacked, and so I open the door, step inside and close and lock it behind me before leaning against it, coolly appraising Tali curled up on the bed.

"What do you want?"

Her voice is bitter yet slightly tremulous. Clearly being nice isn't going to work.

"You're pathetic."

That certainly gets her attention.

"What did you just say?"

"I said, you're pathetic. Weak and cowardly. Curled up in your room, throwing a tantrum like a three year old who found someone else playing with her favourite toy."

She is staring at me now, struck speechless.

"This is the first time in three hundred years a Quarian and a Geth have been on the same ship without trying to kill each other. Think what an opportunity that is! What could you learn about the Geth, just talking to them? The Geth and the Systems Alliance are about to meet as equals, and it's your responsibility to be the voice of the Quarian people in this. And when you get back from your Pilgrimage what will you tell your people? Yes, I could have been present at possibly the most important meeting in the history of the galaxy but I was cowering in my cabin like a cowardly little pyjak? So yes, you're pathetic, weak and cowardly."

I turn to leave, then stop in the doorway and look back over my shoulder.

"Prove me wrong."

And with that I am gone.

Oh, sweet Jesus I feel like an absolute shit. I stumble into my room and lock the door behind myself, well aware that if Martin were here he'd be kicking my ass out of the nearest airlock right about now. I can understand Tali's reaction. No matter how I rationalise it I feel disgusting. A shower somewhat alleviates the feeling and then I crawl onto my bed. It's very late in the ship's day/night cycle and I feel very tired. Kicking off my boots and pulling my shirt over my head, I allow myself to plop down into my sheets and sleep rises up around me.

###

"Rise and shine, princess."

"Fuck off, Chief."

"Dear lord, Ivan. You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Blow me."

"Seriously, wake the fuck up before I get Wrex to fart on your head."

"In the past, I have met women who could be considered more ladylike than you. Hell, I've met Vorcha who are more ladylike than you."

I inelegantly slide out of bed, unable to ignore the loaded glances Ash sends the way of my bare chest.

"Window shopping, are we?"

She grins cheekily at me.

"Alenko's more stacked."

"So's Garrus, but I don't see you making sex eyes at him."

"Hey! There are no sex eyes!"

I wave a hand good-naturedly, enjoying the banter as I shrug a T-shirt on and pad barefoot into the mess hall. There, I see Tali sitting at a table with Kaidan, Garrus and Melanis. I kind of feel obliged to apologise for my little rant yesterday evening.

"Tali, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

She looks at me for a couple of seconds before moving a little way away, her body language studiously neutral.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I don't really think any of those things about you. I just didn't want you to waste the opportunity to see the Geth as more than just the monsters under the bed."

She immediately sags with relief, leaning against the wall.

"I thought as much but I wasn't sure. No hard feelings?"

I clap her on the shoulder.

"No hard feelings. Have you had a chat with our guests yet?"

She starts twisting her hands together.

"Um, no. I keep meaning to but they're all hanging out in the cargo bay. When there's eleven of them all looking at you it's a bit, um,"

"Daunting?"

"Terrifying. Perhaps after those diplomats are gone I'll talk to Legion."

"I think he'd like that. Hungry?"

"Very."

We take our seats again and I attack a beef and bacon pasta dish with gusto. Moments later Ash and Liara join us, and then Cesca and finally Wrex. Garrus keeps glancing at Tali, who appears far more relaxed than yesterday and is sitting just inside his personal space. Cesca glances round the humans, me included, and wiggles her fingers in a passable imitation of the Sexual Tension Jellyfish. Ash, Kaidan and I join in as Liara looks at us, bemused. She opens her mouth to say something and I press my fingers to my lips before indicating for her to join in. She does, while still looking baffled. Melanis joins in moments later, looking equally confused, and after some aggressive hand waving on Cesca's part even Wrex start half-heartedly wiggling his stubby digits. Garrus and Tali are looking at us all, seemingly debating whether to call Dr. Chakwas.

"What are you all doing?"

We all stay silent, just continue wiggling our fingers. After a couple of seconds Tali starts doing it as well, at which point the four of us Humans break into applause.

"Okay, somebody explain please."

Cesca gesticulates with her fork.

"Sexual Tension Jellyfish. Look it up."

Four Omnitools light up and moments later we are treated to a tri-species display of embarrassment. Wrex is the only one of the aliens who seems to not care, which I could have predicted, actually.

We finish up our breakfasts with a bout of mercilessly ribbing Garrus and Tali and then Joker calls up on the comm.

"Commander, we're approaching Arcturus Station. We have orders to proceed immediately to Alpha docks. Sounds like Admiral Hackett himself is meeting us, along with Captain Anderson and half the reporters in the damn galaxy."

Cesca rolls her eyes.

"Joy. Reporters. Do you think we'd get in trouble if I appointed Wrex as our press liaison?"

I chuckle at the thought of Wrex falcon punching Khalisah Al-Jilani.

"I think we'd end up hauled in front of a war crimes tribunal. And it would be worth it."

We proceed to the airlock, once again in our formal Alliance blues, the pristine armour sets we only ever wear for public occasions. The white-plated Geth, along with Legion, wait behind us in the CIC. I hear the familiar clunking sound of docking clamps engaging, then the airlock opens to confront us with a small army of reporters, at the forefront, within the military police cordon, being four women, all of whom I recognise from my brief tenure in this universe.

The first is Emily Wong, with ANN, a good, impartial reporter with a very pro-species unity outlook and a penchant for asking deceptively simple yet loaded questions. Beside her is the shrieking harpy from Westerlund News, Khalisah Al-Jilani, utterly xenophobic and with a tendency to put so much spin on a story it started shaking apart under its own centripetal forces. The next one is a petite redhead, Macy Smith, chief reporter for Colonial Today, one of the most popular news networks out in the less established colonies. She had a reputation for meticulously dissecting any and every action and projecting far-reaching consequences that are highly unlikely, but at least she stays impartial. Last and quite possibly least, the Asari reporter Taya T'seialo, hardly of note, busted to the Arcturus Station correspondent because of her sheer mediocrity and consequently looking three seconds away from lining her panties.

We disembark and the four reporters immediately begin to bombard us with questions, which we studiously ignore for about twenty seconds before their attention refocuses onto the Geth stepping out of the Normandy, the eight combat platforms sweeping the area for threats as the two diplomatic platforms and Legion disembark and immediately start heading over to where Hackett and Anderson, along with a whole bunch of other Alliance bigwigs, are waiting, most of them seeming nervous, Anderson and Hackett standing impassive.

Our entourage makes its way to a sealed portion of the station where we finally take seats at a round conference table, or at least some of us do. All the Normandy crew save Cesca and Legion as well as the Geth combat platforms are standing around the edge of the room. I notice Tali is surreptitiously recording the meeting on her Omnitool, and another panel on her tool is lit up with a web of interconnected dots.

Hackett starts off the proceedings.

"Why have you come to negotiate with us after unprovoked attacks on Eden Prime and a half-dozen other colonies?"

There is a short gap and I manage to catch Tali's surprised gasp as the web of dots on her Omnitool shifts, slithering over itself. Then Emissary speaks.

"This is a false assumption. You assume all Geth are united."

One of the Alliance brass seated at the table pipes up.

"So the attack was by, what, a rogue Geth state?"

"Religious cult is the optimum label. The Heretics consist of eight point eight three six percent of all Geth runtimes. The remainder are true Geth, represented by us. Geth build their own future. Heretics wish the Old Machines to build a future for us. Heretics have terminated many Systems Alliance runtimes and attempted to expand their numbers by hacking servers belonging to the True Geth. We propose a military alliance between True Geth and Systems Alliance against the common enemy of the Heretics."

Silence in the meeting hall.

"If it will help achieve consensus, since the offer was extended six point three four seconds ago we have formulated a preliminary plan for a joint forces strike on Heretic servers in the Armstrong cluster. As stands the operation would require the deployment of three Alliance cruisers with escorts, along with a similar number of True Geth assets and would be under the overall command of Captain David Anderson."

Eventually Hackett shakes himself out of his stupor.

"We need some time to consider your offer. We will reconvene again in two hours."

The Geth file out and Cesca immediately turns to Tali.

"What did you get, Tali?"

She waves her Omnitool and the web of dots appears over the table.

"I've never seen anything like this. The two main platforms, Emissary and Envoy, contain what looks like QEC devices and are in communion with the rest of the Collective, and through them the combat platforms are networked as well. When we see ten platforms we think ten individuals but that's wrong. As best I can tell only the base level programs remain on the platforms. The higher order programs are freely exchanged between the platforms here and the rest of the Collective."

Cesca holds up a hand.

"So what does that mean for us non-engineers?"

Tali nervously glances around the Alliance brass before replying.

"It means we're not dealing with two diplomats and eight soldiers. We're dealing with a single gestalt mind that is much, much smarter than all of us in this room put together."

One of the assembled Admirals speaks up.

"So do you think they're telling the truth?"

Tali pauses for a moment, seemingly unable to wrap her head around the fact that a room full of Human admirals are hanging on her answer.

"Well," she replies hesitantly, "there's no way really to be sure, but my gut instinct is that whatever their motives are, they're not affiliated with Saren and whatever these 'Heretics' have been up to, it has them spooked. To voluntarily reach out to an organic species for assistance, I think one of those hacking attempts they were talking about got a little too close for comfort."

Admiral Hackett nods.

"Thank you, Miss Zorah. Anything else you wish to add?"

She clears her throat and glances at Garrus, who gives her a reassuring nod.

"I'd like to request that a Quarian diplomat be allowed to attend the negotiations."

Several Admirals look like they're about to object but Admiral Lindholm of the First Fleet beats them to the punch.

"Why?"

Tali looks slightly taken aback but regroups and responds.

"Our people are officially in a state of war with the Geth. If the Alliance signs a military treaty with the Geth that means that we would be in a state of war with the Alliance also, which is something I personally would quite like to avoid."

Once again, Admiral Lindholm cuts in front of anyone trying to object.

"Who would you recommend?"

"Admiral Koris. As Admiral of the Civilian Fleet, he's the most likely to want what's best for the Quarian people, which definitely isn't war with the Alliance. And my father, Admiral Zorah. He's suspicious of the Geth but he won't let that compromise the negotiations."

Admiral Lindholm glances over to Admiral Hackett, who nods sharply.

"All in favour of permitting Quarian Admirals Koris and Zorah to attend the negotiations?"

Her and Admiral Hackett immediately stand, as does the entirety of the Normandy crew, Captain Anderson and three other admirals.

"Motion carried. Get in contact with your people, Miss Zorah. Negotiations will resume when they arrive."

Four hours later I am standing on the dockside, watching as a Quarian frigate offloads two passengers along with eight Quarian Marines, all armed with Adas Anti-Synthetic rifles, Reegar carbines and Arc pistols. Beside me stand Tali, Garrus and Kaidan to escort the Quarians to the negotiation rooms. One of the Quarian marines immediately makes a beeline for Tali, who practically jumps into his arms

"Kal!"

"Hey kid. How you doing?"

The two of them start jabbering away in Common Keelish. As I have learned, there are two forms of Keelish, High Keelish, the more formal tongue, and Common Keelish which is so colloquial VI translator's don't even recognise it as a form of Keelish and thus can't translate it.

The two of them fall silent as Rael approaches them, his body language indicating barely restrained wrath.

"Tali'Zorah! What do you think you're playing at! Have you completely lost your mind?"

Before anyone can intervene he steps up and slaps her on the side of her head, hard. She cries out in shock and stumbles, pressing one hand to her head. Rael goes to strike her again but suddenly Garrus is there, his talons wrapped around Rael's wrist, his other hand gripping him by the shoulder as Garrus hisses out in a tone of pure rage.

"You're damn lucky you have diplomatic immunity, you pyjak. Stay away from Tali."

He bends the Admiral's arm just far enough to demonstrate that if he wanted to he could break the man's arm with little effort, then released him, shoving him backwards. I put my hand on Garrus's arm and mutter to him.

"Take Tali back to the Normandy, and tell Ash and Wrex to shag ass over here. We'll take this."

He nods and gently puts his arm around Tali, guiding her away from the crowd. Moments later, Ash and Wrex appear to help us shepherd the Quarian delegation to the negotiation table, hopefully without further incident.

We manage to reach the embassy hall and there is a tense moment as the Quarian marines come face to face with the Geth combat platforms for the first time, but luckily Koris and Kal'Reegar manage to get them to stand down before shots are fired. Nevertheless the atmosphere is charged with the potential for violence as the Migrant Fleet marines and the Geth platforms face each other down across the room, fingers on triggers, the eight Alliance marines looking distinctly nervous.

Admiral Hackett stands and starts the negotiations.

"It is the decision of the Systems Alliance to accept the offer of a military alliance with the Geth. However it has been brought to our attention that this would result in the Quarian people and the Alliance being in a state of warfare. To this end, we wish to negotiate a peace treaty between the Quarians and the Geth."

He sits and Emissary stands before the stunned Quarians can react.

"Planning for a joint Geth/Alliance strike on Heretic holdings in the Armstrong cluster will commence immediately following the termination of these negotiations. We wish to pursue a cessation of hostilities with the Creators. This represents our thirteenth attempt at initiating diplomatic contact with the Creators. The previous twelve attempts resulted in the destruction of our delegation before communications could be established. The following are the terms for a three party treaty between the Geth, the Creators and the Alliance. Should consensus be impossible to achieve we have also drafted separate treaties for the Creators and the Alliance."

There is a pause as Emissary sweeps his baleful gaze over the room, almost challenging somebody to interrupt him.

"Item 1: The Geth, the Creators and the Alliance will be in a state of military alliance. If one party is attacked by a foreign threat all parties will respond to that threat under a single joint command. This does not apply to domestic threats to any one party unless that domestic threat attacks another party, at which point it is classified as a foreign threat and responded to as such."

The Alliance admirals seem happy with this clause of the treaty. The Quarians just sit there like deer in the headlights.

"Item 2: In times of war there is to be unrestricted movement of all military assets of the three parties through each other's territory. In times of peace formal permission must be given and an itinerary approved before any military force belonging to one party is permitted to travel through the territory of another party."

Once again a pause to wait for any objections to be raised.

"Item 3: Complete sharing of any and all military technological developments between all parties of the treaty, including but not limited to weaponry, kinetic barriers, materials technology, information handling technology, point defence systems, ship construction techniques and medical developments. The implementation of these technological breakthroughs by each party is determined solely by their own government."

Muttering among the Alliance admirals, but no outright objection.

"Item 4: A joint species research and development think tank to be founded to focus on integrating the technologies of the three parties in the interest of mutual advancement. A joint species special operations division to be founded to test the effectiveness of integrating military forces under a single command. This item will be eligible for re-negotiation in three Earth orbits, dependant on the success or otherwise of the projects."

Once again, the Alliance admirals seem to accept this clause.

"Item 5: Should any party violate a clause of the treaty a tribunal will immediately be convened by the other two parties, capable of engaging in punitive action including economic sanctions or ejection from the treaty. Any decision made by this tribunal will stand for three Earth orbits before being subject to re-negotiation. Thus ends the treaty."

Apparently Emissary isn't done yet because he turns to the Quarians.

"Additional treaty: Creator-Geth Reconcilation Treaty. Item 1: A population of two million Creators be permitted to resettle Rannoch. Dependant on the success or otherwise of this test population the status of the Creators on Rannoch will be re-negotiated in three Rannoch orbit's time. The terms of the renegotiation could stretch to permanentky ceding Rannoch to the Creators. Should at any point hostilities break out between the Creators and the Geth this population will be ejected from Rannoch and returned to the Flotilla. Thus ends the treaty."

Koris immediately stands.

"The Admiralty Board has appointed myself along with Admiral Zorah to negotiate innovative behalf of the Quarian people. As long as my colleague has no objections, I accept both treaties as they stand. Keelah'Selai."

Emissary nods.

"Keelah'Jebrau, Admiral Koris. Where does the Alliance stand?"

As Emissary says 'Keelah'Jebrau', all the Quarian marines relax, seeming as if the tension has drained out of them. One female marine's shoulders start shaking and if I didn't know better I'd say she was sobbing. I'll have to ask Tali about that later.

Rael stands also and bows his head slightly.

"I always thought the road back to our homeworld would be soaked in the blood of my Marines. I accept both treaties as they stand."

Oh my god. It just hit me. The reason all this is happening is because we found Legion on Eden Prime. And the reason we found Legion on Eden Prime was because Cesca found his thread in the space between. And the reason she found that was because of me.

Therefore, my presence in this universe is the cause of the Quarians and the Geth signing a military alliance three years before they were supposed to.

I am ridiculously awesome.

Heading back to the Normandy, I have to say I'm feeling pretty damn good about myself. Hell, I'm ecstatic. Of all the changes to canon I could have made, this has been the best one I can possibly think of. I manage to dodge the reporters, something I am infinitely glad of, and board the ship, cheerfully whistling to myself. My good mood dissipates a bit as I remember Tali. I can't help but be a little worried about her ... Okay, a lot worried. Her dad really is a son of a bitch, but hopefully Garrus is taking good care of her.

I head down to the crew deck and make my way to Tali's room, knocking on the door. The panel turns green and I walk in. Garrus is sitting on the edge of the bed, Tali curled up in his lap, her arms around him and her body shaking with silent sobs as one talon strokes her back, his cheek pressed into the top of her head as he makes a low humming noise. I can't help but think they look cute together.

Garrus spots me and sits up, gently shifting Tali into a more upright position. She sniffs and gulps as her eyes come to focus on me.

"How are you feeling?"

She doesn't reply, just bows her head again and presses closer into Garrus.

"I thought you might want to know how the negotiations went."

She looks up again and Garrus fixes me with an intense gaze.

"The Alliance, the Geth and the Quarians have signed a three part military alliance. In addition the Geth have given permission for a trial population of two million Quarians to re-settle Rannoch."

The change in her demeanour is electric. She leaps up and hugs me, then whirls round and practically pounces on Garrus, briefly pressing her face plate to his forehead before dancing an insane little dance around the room, then jumps on Garrus again.

"Oh and, just so you know, I left a portable decon unit and Quarian immunoboosters in your top drawer. In case you and Garrus want to," and at this I pause and pointedly wink at the two of them, "celebrate. But first, I'd like a private word with Garrus outside. Give us two minutes."

I tow the bemused Garrus out into the corridor and ensure the door is sealed before I start talking.

"Listen up. You are about to be jumped by a very happy Quarian. You good with that?"

He looks incredibly embarrassed, his mandibles fluttering and his eyes bouncing around the room.

"Yeah. I like her, I mean I really like her, but I didn't even think that was possible for me and her to, you know ..."

"Trust me, it's possible. Turians can mate with Humans, Humans can mate with Quarians, Quarians can mate with Turians. She won't have equipment quite like what you're used to but it is possible."

I know this because I did some research. I felt kind of pervy doing it, but ever since the two of them started making goopy eyes at each other I figured I ought to be prepared to have The Talk with Garrus.

"Thing is though, Quarians are only legally permitted to mate after their Pilgrimage, so this will be her first time. When Quarians mate, they take it slow, very gentle, face to face. Don't get rough, you'll scare her. Biting is okay, but you can under no circumstances break the skin. It's very fragile, so be careful. Also, Quarians of both genders only have one in them before they need to reload, if you catch my drift, and after spending basically her entire life in a space suit she'll be hypersensitive to touch, so bear that in mind. And if you hurt her in any way, so help me spirits I will kick you off this ship so fast you'll skid all the way to Palaven. Good luck."

He just stands there gaping as I walk away, wondering if I should legally change my name to Mordin Solus.

"Ah ... Ivan? There's a Quarian at the door asking to see Tali and I think Wrex is about to fold him in half, so ..."

I sigh.

"On my way, Joker."

I head up the stairs to the airlock and find a very unhappy Wrex, back in his dark red armour, in the process of trying to make Rael'Zorah line his exosuit, something he seems to be doing remarkably well at.

"What's going on here?"

Rael manages to summon up a modicum of indignity from somewhere.

"I demand to be allowed to see my daughter!"

I lean nonchalantly against the side of the airlock.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zorah, but Tali is otherwise engaged and asked not to be disturbed. Please try again in the morning."

"What is she doing?"

I fumble around for an excuse.

"Sleeping. As you may have ascertained, she's had a rough day. Some bosh'tet hit her at the docks and she got quite upset about it, so if you would please leave the airlock I won't have to get my buddy Wrex here to fold you in half, jam you in a fuel canister and roll you back to your ship."

Wrex adds to my statement in a menacing growl.

"I think I'd enjoy that quite a lot."

The Admiral wisely steps away from the airlock and we seal it behind him. Wrex turns to fix me with a single red eye.

"Sleeping?"

I shrug.

"Well, she's probably horizontal in bed by now."

His booming laughter follows me down the corridor.

###

The hiss of the door wakes me from my slumber. I glance groggily at my clock. 3:37 AM. Then I look back up at the intruder. Cesca is standing there in her underwear, agitatedly shifting from foot to foot.

"Cesca? The hell ..."

She starts pacing up and down, silhouetted against the lock panel on my door, the only source of illumination in the room.

"I didn't know what to think about what you showed me but then I couldn't sleep. Nightmares again, my fucking subconscious bullshit, and I just felt like coming over here, but I still don't know, I want to trust you but ..."

I sit up and catch her by the arm, turning her to face me.

"Cesca, stop. Slow down. What's wrong?"

She looks down now, before looking back up at me with those big eyes of hers. Her voice comes out as a strangled whisper.

"I'm scared, Ivan. I'm scared to go to sleep."

She doesn't argue as I pull her into the bed, settling her back against the headboard beside me and tugging the sheets over our legs before tentatively putting an arm around her shoulders. Tension sings through her entire frame like a taut bowstring, the muscles in her jaw working as her fingers hold the sheets in a death grip.

"Why are you scared?"

"I ... I don't know. Whenever I fall asleep I just wake up half an hour later, even more tired than I went to sleep, and I'm crying but I can't remember why ... God, Ivan, help me. Help me."

What do I do?


	18. Chapter 18

I am silent for a long time as she trembles beside me. Eventually I manage to shake myself out of my stupor and I bend down to kiss the top of her head.

"I'm here, don't worry. I'll always be here for you."

She gulps and leans into me, her body warm against my side. I am suddenly conscious of how little clothing we are both wearing, her in a black tank top and panties, me in just a pair of boxers. I shrug the sudden bout of self-consciousness away and put both arms around her.

"Come on. Sleep. I'll be here."

We shift to a lying position, her face inches from mine as our heads come to rest on the pillow.

"Ivan ..."

"Ssh. Go to sleep, Cesca."

Reluctantly, she closes her eyes. Her whole body is tense but she slowly relaxes as I hold her. Within ten minutes her slow and even breathing indicates she is asleep and I feel myself drifting off as well.

###

"Aww, you two look so cute together."

I blearily open my eyes to see Melanis standing over me, snapping a picture with her Omnitool. It takes Cesca stirring in my arms to remind me exactly what she's talking about.

"You delete that picture right now and get the fuck out of my room, or I swear to god I'm going to piss in your armour."

She falls back, cackling gleefully. Cesca mumbles sleepily.

"What time is it?"

I check my Omnitool.

"Half past nine. How are you doing?"

She opens her eyes and smiles at me.

"Much better."

On an impulse, I lean in and give her a quick kiss. She makes a little surprised sound and then reciprocates. After a couple of seconds I lean back.

"The Quarians and the Geth are at peace, Tali and Garrus finally hooked up, you're in my bed in your underwear, all is right in the world."

She playfully bops me on the head before sitting up and stretching, inadvertently treating me to a breathtaking view of her toned body.

"Cheeky."

"I try."

As I sit up and pull a T-shirt over my head Cesca's Omnitool buzzes and she glances over a text message.

"Goddamn C-sec fucked up again."

"How so?"

"They're saying they have my sister in custody."

"You have a sister?"

She turns round and frowns at me.

"No. I don't."

I scratch the back of my neck.

"Perhaps we ought to head on down to the Citadel then and see what's going on."

"Perhaps we should."

"Go on, get out of here. You can't spend the entire day lounging round my cabin in your underwear."

She looks at me as if I just said something incredibly stupid.

"I'm not just going to up and waltz through the mess hall in knickers and a tank top."

I groan and drop my hands into my head.

"Okay, not complaining, but next time you feel the burning urge to come bursting into my cabin in the middle of the night please remember to bring a change of clothes."

She mockingly clutches at her heart and stumbles back a couple of paces.

"Oh Ivan, you wound me."

"I try."

There is a loaded pause.

"So this is the part where I go traipsing into your cabin, pick up an armful of clothing and come traipsing back, all the while heroically deflecting awkward questions?"

There is another pause.

"I'm going, I'm going."

I exit the cabin and make the dash to the captain's cabin, managing to avoid any awkward questions in phase 1. Phase 2: Obtain Clothing. I open up a drawer, immediately close it again. Whew. Going through Commander Shepard's panty drawer - I'll pass, thanks. I try the next drawer down, grab a pair of Alliance uniform trousers and Trollface meme T-shirt - Huh. They still have memes in 2183. Anyway, I turn to the door and pause, clothes in hand. Something just occurred to me.

My hand closes around my pendant and I disappear briefly into the space between. Once again I glance around at the threads that make up the two universes, then dive back in, reappearing with a biotic flicker back in my cabin. Cesca looks at me in dumb amazement.

"So you discover the power to teleport between universes at will and you're using it to avoid awkward questions on the clothes run?"

I grin and shrug before handing her the armful of clothing. She looks at me out of the corner of her eye.

"I need to take a shower."

"I'll go tell Joker to set course for the Citadel then."

"Thanks."

She disappears into my bathroom as I leave the room and head up to the cockpit, engaging in another bout of Ground Team vs. Flight Crew banter before instructing Joker to make for the Citadel, chop chop.

So I have some time to kill before we reach the Citadel. I see Ash and Kaidan sitting in the mess hall and join them, humming cheerfully. They greet me with a smile as I tuck into the latest concoction - scrambled egg with chorizo. Then I go and tease Garrus and Tali in the cargo bay for a bit, then practice biotics with Liara, Melanis and Wrex before somehow getting ensnared into a discussion about sniper rifles with Legion. When we finally reach the Citadel Cesca instructs me to arm up and we head out to C-sec to find out exactly what is going on.

When we reach C-sec HQ a less-than-friendly Turian detective greets us, leading us to a holding cell. I am not expecting what we see in the cell.

There is a girl there, looks to be about Tali's age. I can clearly see the family resemblance, and yet she seems harder, angrier than Cesca. Where Cesca has flowing, platinum blonde hair, her hair is ice white and cropped in a pixie cut. Her skin is covered in grime and she is wearing tattered clothes that look like they're held together by wishful thinking. On her shoulder, just visible through a tear in her shirt, is a Batarian glyph looking like it was branded into her body. But the worst thing is her eyes. Where Cesca has beautiful, deep blue orbs, this girl has thick, ragged scars. Someone cut out her eyes.

I look over to Cesca, who is staring through the glass, an expression of agony on her face. She puts one hand on the glass.

"Emmy?"

The word is barely a whisper.

"Officer, I need to talk to her."

"Of course, ma'am. Just let us get our interpreter in. She only speaks in a certain dialect of Khar'Qek, a rare Batarian language that regular VI translators can't pick up."

After the interpreter arrives we file into the room and almost as soon as the door opens the girl snarls something in a harsh, guttural language.

"I'm done answering your questions."

How did I understand that? I could clearly hear the rough alien consonants and yet it made perfect sense in my head. As an experiment I try switching off my VI translator as the interpreter, a Salarian, speaks.

"She said she doesn't want to talk right now."

That was clearly in Kesh, the primary Salarian language, and yet I also understood it. Stranger and stranger. I turn my attention to the girl sitting in front of me. Cesca is just staring silently, eyes wide. I think for a second and then put my reply into the same language she is speaking, still unsure how I'm doing it.

"What's your name?"

She looks momentarily surprised, then goes back to glowering at me. The interpreter addresses me again.

"Be careful. She showed up in a Batarian frigate full of slaver corpses. I'm not usually squeamish, but some of those bodies ... She's a very powerful biotic."

"So am I. Answer the question. What is your name?"

She looks up at me and snarls something.

"M'harrakh."

I blink, surprised. M'harrakh loosely translates as 'object'. Beside me, Cesca whispers something, her voice almost lost to the air.

"Emily."

"What?"

She turns to look at me.

"Emily. I thought ... You ... How?"

The savage girl - Emily, or Object, or whatever - hisses at her. I didn't even realise humans made that noise.

"I know your smell. Like a memory of long ago."

"Cesca, what's going on?"

Tears are rolling down her face now.

"All this time ... What did they do to you?"

The savage girl cocks her head, still angled straight ahead as the scars on her face where her eyes should be faintly flicker with biotic blue.

"Now I know you. Francesca. Who is Francesca? A hated name, an escaping name, free while the master owned M'harrakh."

With a cry of rage the girl throws herself across the table at Cesca. Acting on reflex, I grab her and dip us briefly into the space between, reappearing on the opposite side of the room to the feral girl. She lands on all fours and turns to snarl at us, reminding me more of a Vorcha than a Human at the moment.

"All this time! How long! How long!"

Cesca's voice sounds so, so broken as she replies.

"Thirteen years."

"Thirteen years, hated sister! Thirteen years as the Master's M'harrakh while you walked free!"

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone in the room freezes as a powerful voice booms out. I turn to see Wrex striding into the room, biotic power thrumming through his veins. He picks up the feral girl and pins her against the wall, regarding her with one blood red eye.

"Control yourself. Your anger is using you. If you wish to be strong you must use your anger. Tell me, creature, who is it you hate?"

She screams at him, hands futilely clawing at his thick arm, then spits an answer.

"Sister!"

He bends close, face inches from hers.

"Lies."

She shrieks again, a wild harpy sound, but Wrex is unperturbed.

"Who do you hate?"

"Sister!"

"Lies! Who. Do. You. Hate."

"MASTER!"

He lets her drop to the ground, where she curls up, suddenly spent of her anger, sobbing. Wrex kneels down beside her and puts a hand on her back.

"Master ... He took me when I was small from my home. I lived with Mother and Father and Sister. He killed Mother and Father. He took me back to the red sky planet. I tried to get free but he made the colours go away with his hot pain. He thought I was blind but I could still see with my mind. He made me his M'harrakh to play with, to curl at his feet and to satisfy his needs. When I was bad he let the other four-eyes hurt me, when I was good I had food. I never stopped watching. One day he took me on his flying palace but the guards were not watching me. I split them, split the other Masters and the other M'harrakh but Master got away. He's still there, still wants to hurt me, I hate him, I hate him I HATE HIM! AAGH!"

She releases a biotic blast that smashes the desk and the seats to splinters and shoves me, Cesca and the interpreter back hard against the wall. Wrex weathers the blast and then picks her up, speaking in gentle tones that sound almost paternal.

"Come, child. I'll teach you to live as a warrior. But we cannot call you M'harrakh. I shall call you Skiranta. Now come with me."

Wrex takes the feral girl - Skiranta - by the hand and leads her out of the room. I turn to Cesca.

"Are you okay?"

She puts her head on my shoulder and cries.

###

A good while later, we make the trek back to the Normandy. Cesca hides her tear-streaked face beneath her Fury mask, leaving me to do the talking as we head up through C-sec and back to the docking bay. As soon as we get back on the Normandy she heads to her cabin, sealing the door behind her. I instead make my way to Wrex's cabin, where I can hear the sound of a shower running. I tap on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Ivan."

Moments later the door slides open and I step through, glancing around. Wrex's cabin is almost the polar opposite of Tali's - where hers is cosy and homely, his is large and slightly un-nerving. His armour is on a stand in one corner, antique Krogan weapons, axes, hammers and primitive firearms lining the walls. The bed has been removed, replaced with a very large, very hard looking chair, and one wall is totally bare but with some small dents in it.

"Nice digs."

Wrex himself is kneeling in the middle of the floor, something in his hands. I look closer and see it is a set of Human armour, midnight black with a sandy pattern Wrex is adding with a stencil and a can of spray paint.

"What do you want?"

"I have to ask. Why?"

He looks up at me with an expression I can't place.

"I don't know. I guess I just felt like she needed me? Ah, no matter."

"One more thing. Why Skiranta?"

Wrex puts down the armour and the stencil and settles himself in his chair with a grunt.

"Most of our stories were destroyed when we nuked the shit out of our own planet, but one of my favourite ones that survived is the tale of the First Mother and her six daughters."

I lean against the bare wall to listen.

"The story goes that long ago, the First Mother and the First Father were the progenitors of the Krogan species, but every time they mated the children were all male. In order to have daughters the First Mother made a deal with Aralakh to give her three blessed daughters. Aralakh warned her that there would be a price to pay for each of her blessed daughters but she ignored his warning. The next time she mated she gave birth to three pure Krogan females: Ravastra, Severun and Kortul, who were Honour, Pride and Ferocity. The descendants of those three daughters were true Krogan, born to wage war and deliver victory. But the price she had to pay were three cursed daughters, Voritul, Junsurak and Skiranta. Envy, Greed and Hatred. The children of Voritul were always weaker, and so plotted to trick the strongest Krogan to their deaths. The children of Junsurak used sneak attacks and ambushes to take the women and children of the other clans while the men were out at war. The children of Skiranta were the worst. Consumed by hatred of all life, even each other, seeking only the destruction of all life they encountered."

"So you're saying Skiranta literally translates as Hatred?"

The Battlemaster nods once.

"It fits her well."

"Who is she?"

I shrug.

"I don't know. The Commander knows. I plan to find out."

Wrex nods, then goes back to the armour, the dismissal clear. I leave the room and head back into the mess hall to find the rest of the ground team, minus Cesca and Wrex, sitting there.

"Ivan. Mind telling us what the hell is going on?"

I sit down between Garrus and Melanis and start speaking.

"We've got a new crewmember. A very, very volatile crew member. Her name is Skiranta. Tread carefully around her. Oh, and she's blind but can still see with biotics, or something like that."

The assembled crew nod and go back to their meals. I have to say, I'm having horrible feelings about this. Cesca brought this crew together. Let's hope her sister doesn't tear it apart.

###

We're en route back to Arcturus station, the planning for the joint Alliance-Geth strike finally complete, when I finally get into Cesca's cabin. The first thing I notice is the Commander herself, curled up on the bed. The whole interior of the cabin is smashed up, dents in the wall, chairs overturned. I approach her cautiously, making sure I lock the door behind her.

"Cesca?"

Her head whips round to look at me and I can clearly see the tear tracks down her face.

"I'm falling apart, Ivan."

I sit down on the bed beside her.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"I ... I ... You. I love you, Ivan. I can't explain it. But at the same time ... I can't trust you. I don't know what to think and it's tearing me apart. It's so hard, putting a brave face on, being the impregnable Commander Shepard. It's all an act, and I thought I didn't have to act around you, but I do. I don't ... I can't ..."

Commander Shepard is falling apart in front of me and I have no idea what to do about it. From the back of my mind comes an idea. I hold out my hand to Cesca.

"What if I told you there's a place where you won't have to act? Where you can just be you?"

Without waiting for a response I drop us through the space between and reappear in my living room.

"Welcome to 2013."

A/N: Apologies for what is most definitely a crappy chapter. Writer's block is a bitch. And I'd like to take the opportunity to plug my new fic, Sins of the Reapers. Please check it out and let me know what you think.


	19. Chapter 19

"Well? How do I look?"

My breath is almost knocked out of my lungs as she steps out of the bedroom. On my slightly plump harpy of a mother those tiny glitzy dresses were an affront to nature but Cesca pulls them off effortlessly, despite looking fairly uncomfortable in what is probably the most modest item in my mother's collection. I notice she has turned slightly away from me, holding her burned arm behind her body. I pass her a leather jacket that she gratefully puts on.

"Okay, if we're going out in public, a couple of ground rules. No biotics, no Omnitool, nothing that doesn't belong in 2013."

She frowns slightly, then nods.

"So, where are we going?"

"Why, dinner and a show, of course."

When I said dinner, I meant a three course meal at a Michelin star restaurant, and when I said show I meant seeing The Tempest performed at the Globe Theatre. As we leave the theatre, Cesca turns to me, face glowing.

"That was amazing! The way they portrayed Caliban ... And Trinculo was hilarious!"

I settle my arm around her shoulders and smile at her.

"Better?"

She nods, still grinning.

"Much."

"Ready to get back to saving the galaxy?"

Her nod is slightly more uncertain.

"Come on then."

I flick at my pendant and transport us back to the Normandy, reappearing in Cesca's cabin. I look her straight in the eyes.

"No more acts. Promise me that if you have any doubts or concerns, any at all, you'll talk to someone about them. If not me, then Dr. Chakwas or somebody like that. Okay?"

She nods.

"Promise."

"Good. We need you at your best, Cesca. Being torn apart by doubt and fear is not your best."

She smiles cheekily, breaking the gravity of the moment.

"Yes Captain Ivan."

"That's more like it."

Yet again, Joker interrupts a tender moment. Wonderful timing.

"Commander, we're just coming up on Arcturus station now."

###

The ops planning room of Arcturus Station is in a state of controlled chaos. Alliance officers run back and forth with datapads and steaming cups of coffee, Quarian tacticians point fingers and argue over holographic maps and in one corner sits a Geth server node happily blinking its lights and speaking through a Geth platform standing by the main table. I pat Cesca's head as she moves to enter.

"Good luck in there. Remember to duck if someone starts throwing biscuits."

She flips me the bird and heads through the hatch, effortlessly navigating the tangle of hyperactive officers. I wait until the hatch closes behind her to head back to the Normandy and oversee the loading process.

Tali is pacing up and down in front of the entrance to the cargo loading area, jumping at any little sound. She looks up sharply as I approach.

"Tali, what are you doing?"

She looks at me for a moment before unleashing a string of what I assume to be Keelish invective, then slows her speech down enough to let me pick out her words.

"Which bosh'tet had the idea to quarter Quarian and Geth combat units together in the Normandy's cargo bay? I'm out here because I fear for my life. They're one wrong word away from obliterating each other!"

I sigh.

"Alright. I'll see if I can get them to be civil."

I head in through the door to see that Tali's assessment is unsurprisingly accurate. The tension between the Quarian and the Geth troops is palpable.

"Listen up!"

Twenty four assorted Quarian and Geth heads turn towards me.

"I don't care who killed who's distant progenitors, or who took who's planet. Your history of animosity with each other is just that. History. You have a chance at peace, a chance which I am not going to let be jeopardised by any of you morons. So sit tight, play nice, get your kumbah yayas out around the campfire, whatever. There will be no fighting between Quarians and Geth in my cargo bay, DO YOU GET ME!"

I am rewarded with every Quarian in the room jumping half a metre and the Geth rapidly flicking their headflaps back and forth. After a moment a subdued chorus of affirmatives arises from the assembled soldiers.

"Glad to hear it. Any pyjak who starts something in my cargo bay can walk back to Rannoch. As you were."

I walk past the soldiers and into the cargo bay to see Ash staring at me.

"You ever considered a job as a drill sergeant, Ivan? That's one hell of a temper."

I look at her just long enough to make her nervous.

"I don't have a short temper. I just have a low tolerance for stupid."

She chuckles and turns back to her weapon bench as I turn to watch the Quarians and the Geth filing into the cargo bay. The Quarians and the Geth are still keeping themselves to themselves - I could hardly expect one hollering-at to cure three hundred years of hatred and mistrust - but at least they're not going for their guns every time they come within ten metres of each other. Ah well.

I go over to the Quarian commander. Hey look! It's good ole Kal'Reegar. As I approach he salutes me somewhat nervously.

"At ease, Reegar. I'm interested in the disposition of your forces."

He blinks, then nods.

"Right. We're a twelve-strong unit. Three four-man commando squads. Each squad contains an assault specialist, a sniper, a heavy weapon specialist and a medic."

I nod at Reegar and then get up to head over to the Geth side of the cargo bay, where twelve Geth units are checking over their equipment silently. As I approach, Legion moves to speak with me.

"Do you have any queries?"

"I'm interested in the disposition of the Geth unit we have aboard."

Legion's headflaps twitch momentarily.

"This unit consists of twelve experimental platforms. Each platform contains one thousand one hundred and eighty three programs."

"What are the capabilities of these experimental platforms?"

"The platforms are designed to exploit weaknesses in Geth design. They are equipped with cryonic weaponry which makes Geth playing become weak and brittle, reducing impact resilience by up to three hundred and fourteen percent, slows the processing speed of Geth networks, reducing reaction time by two hundred and eighty six percent, and weakens servo filaments, weakening the force exerted by four hundred and twenty one percent."

I take a moment to look over the platforms in question. They are all slightly larger than Legion, with the typical white coloration of the True Geth but lacking the elaborate black patterning mimicking the overwraps of a Quarian exosuit. The most distinct feature is the glowing, ice blue cryofluid tank on the platforms's backs, glowing conduits running along the shoulders and arms to the wrists, which have ominous looking nozzles on the palm side of the wrist and what look to be blades folded into the forearms. There is one more thing about them that grabs my attention -

"Are those M-622 Avalanches?"

Legion wiggles his head flaps again.

"Affirmative. We discovered the design on the extranet and purchased twelve using a proxy corporation. Thus far, testing has proven them to be a highly effective weapon."

I look appreciatively at the Geth. Those cryo platforms look fairly terrifying. I'm suddenly fervently glad they're on our side.

"What is the designation of these platforms?"

"Experimental combat platforms."

I pause momentarily and scratch my head.

"Hmm. How about Blizzard platforms?"

"Analysing. We acknowledge this as an appropriate designator. Blizzard platforms stand ready to assist."

"Glad to hear it."

I leave Legion to whatever it was he was doing and head out of the loading area again, deciding to go for a walk to clear my head. Our private loading area is situated above and to the side of the main loading area and I look down into the main area, curious to see what's going on.

An Alliance troop transport is docked, its maw open and swallowing what looks like a full battalion of Marines along with numerous Mako medium tanks and Grizzly heavy tanks. I look down, admiring the firepower I am observing as the Marines load up by company. The royal blue armour is accompanied by the occasional group of grey armoured soldiers, red stripes on the arms proudly proclaiming their N7 designation. Standing up here, watching them loading up - it really is an awe inspiring sight.

I'm not sure how long I'm standing there. Eventually I feel a hand slip into mine and I look round to see Cesca in her dress blues looking out over the landing field.

"Quite an impressive sight, isn't it?"

I smile and squeeze her hand.

"It certainly is."

We are interrupted by my least favourite voice.

"Khalisah Bint-Sinan Al-Jilani, Westerlund News. Commander Shepard, our viewers have been hearing disturbing rumours you are fraternising with a member of your crew, little more than a mercenary thug at that."

She glances pointedly at our clasped hands. I feel the familiar stirring of anger in my belly. Before Cesca can react I have rounded on the errant reporter. I don't shout. My voice is deadly calm.

"Khalisah Bint-Sinan Al-Jilani. You are a parasite. A parasite is defined as an organism that draws sustenance from others to their detriment, and you fit the bill perfectly. We are out there, in a cruel, dark, violent galaxy, trying to make it a safer place for sentient life, and life forms like you seem to think you have the intrinsic right to try and turn the people we are working to protect against us. So take your snide insinuations, your disingenuous assertions, your tabloid sensationalism and your loosely disguised spew of sub-sapient invective and take them somewhere else. I've heard Tuchanka is nice this time of year."

I mockingly bow, not taking my steel grey eyes off her shocked face.

"Viewers, may I suggest Alliance or Citadel News Network, both of which are far more accurate than the shrieking harpies of Westerlund News. Have a pleasant day, Khalisah Bint-Sinan Al-Jilani."

Cesca follows me as I walk off, gaping open-mouthed at me. As soon as we are out of earshot of the shell shocked reporter she speaks, her voice having a strange quality to it.

"You do realise you probably just sunk that woman's career? Nobody will take her seriously ever again."

I continue looking straight ahead.

"That was very much the intention of the statement, yes."

"I'm not sure whether to punch you or kiss you."

"I pick option 2," I hurriedly interject. She chuckles and gives me a playful shove.

"You're probably already trending on the extranet."

"Look Ma, I'm famous."

She sighs.

"Never a dull moment with you around."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

She pretends to ponder the question.

"Jury's out."

We are passing by an external window and Cesca suddenly stops and presses her face to the glass.

"Oh wow ..."

The Geth Dreadnought hangs on station off Arcturus Station, the white plating with black patterning marking it out as True Geth. That thing is unholy massive. I'm kind of scared.

"Good thing it's on our side, hmm?"

"Good thing indeed. Come on, let's get back to the Normandy."

###

When we get back to the Normandy, Cesca is immediately called into the comm room. Apparently the Council want to give her an earful. She gestures for me to follow her and after a moment I comply.

Unlike in the games, communication technology in 2183 is sufficiently advanced that when I enter the room I do a double take to ensure the Councillors aren't actually in the room with us. As I step into range of the comm unit the three Councillors turn to regard me.

"This is Ivan, second in command of the Normandy's ground team."

The Turian councillor is first to speak.

"Well, Ivan. I suppose I should congratulate you. That reporter has been a thorn in our side for a long time."

It takes me a moment to figure out what he's talking about.

"You saw that?"

His mandibles flutter in what I recognise as Turian amusement.

"It already has over a million hits on the extranet. But back to the topic at hand."

The Asari councillor, Tevos, speaks next.

"Commander, we've received disturbing reports of major Geth activity in Alliance space that seems to be going unchallenged by your fleet. Would you care to explain?"

Cesca straightens and puts her hands behind her back, every inch the Commander.

"The group that are aligned with Sovereign are in fact merely a splinter group of the Geth, something akin to a religious cult. The actions of these so-called heretics forced the True Geth to make contact with us, fearing we could wrongly launch reprisals on all Geth. As it is, the Alliance and the True Geth have signed a military alliance. We also assisted in brokering a peace between the Quarian Migrant Fleet and the True Geth, who are allowing a Quarian population to resettle Rannoch. Is that everything?"

She glances over to me. I quickly think for a second.

"Um, perhaps we should mention that the Quarians are also signatories of the military alliance and that we're currently planning a joint forces operation against Heretic holdings."

The Turian councillor looks distinctly unhappy.

"Spectre, I must protest."

Before Cesca can respond I cut in again.

"Why? Are you afraid the Council won't be the biggest kid in the playground any more? Because, let's face it, by numbers alone the tripartite alliance has a combat fleet equal to that of the Council. The fact that most of the Migrant Fleet's warships are old and held together by duct tape and wishful thinking is balanced by the fact that Geth ships are superior to their Turian equivalents, about on par with Asari ships. If it came to a land war we'd also be evenly matched. The fact that the Turians can summon up ninety per cent of their population to arms at any one time will be nicely balanced by the Geth's ability to rapidly construct mobile platforms. Strikes me this is the first time since the Krogan Rebellions a force has arisen that could challenge the Council. You're worried that somebody might take it upon themselves to disrupt this nice little status quo you've got yourselves."

The Councillors are speechless.

"Not to fear, not to fear. There is in fact a simple solution to the problem. Offer Council positions to the member species of the tripartite alliance."

Three simultaneous disbelieving splutters fill the room.

"Thought so. I hardly expected an immediate agreement. Just think about it for a bit before you do decide. It's a win win situation."

The Salarian councillor is the first to recover.

"You had this planned right from the start, didn't you?"

I shrug.

"Actually it just occurred to me. I was planning to blow you off."

The comm link disconnects and Cesca looks at me askance.

"You're a devious bastard, you are."

"I try."

She cuffs me upside the head and leaves the room.

I head to my cabin and start checking over my armour, for want of anything better to do. After a while I feel the Normandy undock and head out to the Mass Relay and Cesca's voice comes over the comms.

"All ground team, assemble in the briefing room."

I make my way up to the briefing room to find I am the last there. To my surprise Kal'Reegar is also present. The room is pretty crowded - I pause to do a quick count. Me, Cesca, Ash, Kaidan, Wrex, Garrus, Tali, Liara, Melanis, Legion, Skiranta and Kal. Twelve members of the ground team.

"Okay. Before we head to the operation in the Armstrong Cluster, we've got time for one more objective so we're going to check out Noveria. It'll give us a chance to cut our teeth on something smaller than an army of Heretics, get used to working together. When we get to the planet I'll head down first with Ivan, Liara, Tali, Kal, Legion and one of the experimental platforms, um, we're going to have to come up with individual designators for them. Able through Lima, there we go. As I was saying, we'll head through first, find out what's what. Then once it's time to head out and confront Benezia I'll summon the rest of you off the Normandy. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Okay then. First team, suit up. Kal and Legion, you might want to brief your troops. Everyone else, be ready to go."

I head down to my cabin and suit up, deciding to take my medium armour on this little jaunt. Checking over my weapons a couple of times, I nod in satisfaction. All good.

Once we are docked, I step out onto the surface of Noveria. Holy cattle-fucking shit on a shit stick, it's cold! I tap my Omnitool to bring up my armour's internal heating.

"This is a very, very cold planet."

The Geth Blizzard with us looks at me.

"Temperature within acceptable parameters."

I glance at the freshly painted name tag on its chest.

"If you say so, Echo."

Kal claps me on the back.

"Thank the Ancestors for thermo- regulated exosuits, hmm?"

I jog forward to walk beside Cesca as we round the corner and see the three ERCS mooks waiting for us.

"Heads up. Those rent-a-cops look like they don't want to let us through."

I can tell she's pulling a face behind her Fury mask.

"Joy of joys. Mercs with authority."

I feel a wicked grin spreading across my face as an idea hits me. I communicate said idea to Cesca, who looks at me for a moment, then chuckles.

"You are utterly satanic, you know that?"

"Uh-huh."

And so, when we finally come across the rent-a-cops, we have everyone behind us. A grand total of thirty five fighters, armed to the teeth. The ERCS bitches don't even try to stop us. They just get out the way with a sort of squeak sound. We tromp through the weapon detectors, ignoring their squeals of outrage, and then come across the lifts.

"Okay then. How are we going to do this?"

Cesca pushes through the group to the reception desk, dinging the bell. We wait for a solid minute, then she leans over and peers round the corner.

"Excuse me?"

Moments later a terrified looking Parasini sticks her head round the door.

"Can I help?"

"Yes. Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. I'm looking for Matriarch Benezia. I got word she's here."

"Uh ... Okay. Who are all these?"

Cesca glances round somewhat comically before refocusing her attention on Parasini.

"My support staff."

"Uh ..."

"Do you think you could perhaps tell the ERCS troops no doubt waiting to ambush us at the top of the elevators to stand down?"

"Uh ..."

There is a long pause.

"Right away, Spectre."

"Thank you."

It takes a good fifteen minutes to move the whole unit up the elevator into the main floor of Port Hanshan.

"Okeydoke. Let's go have a conversation with this Anoleis bloke."

The Salarian is slightly less cocky than he was in the game. Perhaps because there's thirty five of us instead of three. Nevertheless he refuses to give us a garage pass. Cesca splits off to have a chat with Parasini, leaving the other thirty four of us at a loss in the main floor of Port Hanshan.

"I'm heading to the bar."

I'm not sure which of the Quarians said that - apart from Tali they all look the same in their exosuits - but it seems like a damn good idea.

###

I had forgotten how adorable Tali was when she was drunk. Or how awkward Garrus could get in compromising situations. Such as having a very drunk Quarian curled up in his lap, mumbling something about the texture of his plates. He just sits there, looking mortified as nobody tries not to laugh.

"Ivan?"

I look round to see Cesca standing at the bar next to a middle aged Turian gentleman.

"Hey Cesca."

"How much have you had?"

"Two glasses 67 Khar'Shan. Why?"

The Turian gentleman looks aghast.

"You drink Shard Wine?"

I recognise that voice. Lorek Qui'in.

"Somebody needs to head up to Synthetic Insights and find some data on Mr. Qui'in here's terminal. It's full of corrupt rent-a-cops shaking the place down."

I sigh.

"Looks like I just got volunteered. I'll take some Blizzards. They physically can't drink, which means they're probably far more combat effective at the moment than these drunken bums."

She pats me on the shoulder.

"Thanks. I need something stiff to help me relax."

There is silence for a moment as we look at each other.

"Might want to watch your phrasing there."

"Oh, for the love of ..."

I grin at her before sealing my helmet over my head and tagging my comm link.

"Able, Bravo, Charlie, Dog, Echo, Fox. Meet me in the main lobby."

The six Blizzards extricate themselves from the group and head over to the elevator with me. It's a squeeze but all seven of us get down in one trip.

"What are our mission parameters?"

"Enter Synthetic Insights office, destroy hostiles, recover data from terminal."

"Target selection?"

"Anyone who tries to stop us recovering the data."

"Understood."

We come to the elevator leading up to SI.

"Able, hack the elevator. Get us up there, then lock it down until it's time to come back down."

"Understood."

Able's head flaps flick up sequentially, from left to right.

"Elevator now under our control."

We all pile into the elevator.

"Alright then. Able, Bravo with me, team one. Charlie, Dog, you're team two. Echo, Fox, team three. Team one will recover the data. Teams two and three, search and destroy."

The chorus of six simultaneous 'Affirmatives' makes me nod grimly.

The elevator arrives at the Synthetic Insights office.

"Go, go, go!"

The two search and destroy teams rush out first, Able and Bravo sticking close to me as the other four sprint off with inhuman speed. I can hear the crackle of cryo weapons and muffled screams as the Blizzards cut through the ill-prepared ERCS rent-a-cops. Glancing over, I see one of the teams climb the wall to the second level, gecko pads in hands and feet allowing them to scale the cliff-like concrete without preamble.

Two ERCS, a Human and a Turian, come round a crate, apparently trying to flee one of the search and destroy teams, and nearly run smack bang into my unit. I swing out my sword and the Human, unable to stop in time, runs into it. I disembowel her with a flick of my wrist and then biotically smash the Turian into the ceiling, his head slamming into the concrete with a stomach-turning crunch. His body falls ignored to the ground as I walk up the stairs, any errant mooks getting frozen by a Cryo Blast from Able or Bravo then smashed into icy shards by a biotic attack. I quite enjoy working with the Blizzards. None of them have even drawn their Avalanches yet and I am holding only my sword, just using cryo and biotics to sweep aside the pathetic mercs.

We reach the second floor to find Echo and Fox have done a number on the guards. By the looks of it they corralled them into defensive positions near the doors then Fox opened up with his Avalanche, which has a light smattering of snowflakes drifting down from the barrel.

"Situation report?"

"All hostiles terminated. Data cache located."

I head into the room and put Qui'in's OSD into the drive on the terminal, receiving a quick ping indicating the data transfer is complete. When I leave the room I see the bitch herself. Kaira Stirling, surrounded by ERCS mooks.

"Where did she come from?"

Able answers me.

"Additional ERCS units arrived from maintenance shaft."

"There's a maintenance sh ... Ah, never mind. All teams converge. Eliminate targets, maximum prejudice. I'll deal with Stirling."

I don't give the corrupt rent-a-cop time to start monologuing. Six Avalanches bark simultaneously, flash-freezing the gaggle of mooks. I walk over to Stirling, who took shelter behind her biotic barrier, straining with the effort of maintaining it after the cryo impacts. She doesn't even register my presence.

"Hey bitch."

I grab her head with both hands.

"Nighty night."

I bring my armoured hands sharply down as my armoured knee comes sharply up. Her unarmoured head, caught in the middle, makes a wonderful crunching noise as her brainpan gets redistributed over my left leg.

"Objective secured. Regroup and head down to the elevator."

The Blizzards fall in behind me. Our trip to the elevator is silent, apart from Charlie decapitating someone we missed the first time. When we make it back down to the lobby we are greeted by none other than Pink-Dress herself.

"Excuse me sir, there've been reports of a disturbance in the Synthetic Insights office. Would you by any chance know what's going on?"

I sigh and scratch my chin. It's tempting ... Oh, go on then.

"I'm just going to skip a whole bunch of dialogue. You're Noveria Internal Affairs, you want me to get Qui'in to testify against Anoleis and in return you'll try to make our trip something less than a waste of time gallivanting around this frozen corporate shithole. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and clean these brains off my greave."

I leave her blinking dumbly at me as I lead the Blizzards back to the elevator.

"We have a query."

"Yes?"

"How did you know she was an internal affairs agent?"

I shrug.

"Lucky guess."

"Acknowledged."

###

We get ourselves installed in a hotel for the night. Cesca goes to have a chat with Qui'in. I'm not sure what's said but he seems to be quite pleased with the result. Everyone's way too drunk to head out to Peak 15 tonight.

I grab a couple of bottles of Shard Wine and regular Human wine from the bar and head up to my room. As I am sitting at the desk perusing the extranet I hear a knock at the door. Keying it open, I see Cesca standing at the door.

"Couldn't sleep?"

She shakes her head, biting her lower lip.

"Come on in then."

She steps through the door somewhat nervously.

"So how did getting Qui'in's data go? And how did you get brains on your leg?"

I scratch the back of my neck and look around the room.

"Wine?"

She takes the offered bottle and pours herself a glass.

"It was fairly simple. We got in, killed the mooks, got the data and left. The brains previously belonged to one Kaira Stirling, who was in charge of the rent-a-cops."

"How did they get on your leg?"

"Took her out with a knee to the face."

"Ouch."

She sips at her wine as we sit in companionable silence.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Victory! I have defeated my writer's block! Updates should be slightly more regular from now until it returns (hopefully never) but no promises. Still, a huge thank you to everybody who faved, followed and reviewed. Also please take the time to check out my latest project, Sins of the Reapers. In terms of where Bridges is going, the next few chapters will be very action-heavy, with finishing Noveria and then the major battles in the Armstrong Cluster. However once those are done expect much more character content. I have quite a few OCs and I'd like to develop them some more, as well as solidly defining Ivan's relationship with each of his crewmates. And now, on with the show!

When I crack open my eyes in response to my Omnitool alarm blaring, the first thing I see is a mass of platinum blonde hair in my face. Shifting my gaze I notice that Cesca is yet again curled up into me, fast asleep. A man could get used to this.

I prop myself up on one elbow and silence my alarm, checking the time. 0630. Half an hour before we're meeting the rest of the (extensive) ground team to head to the Makos. Yawning, I haul myself out of bed, trying not to wake Cesca. My efforts are futile as moments later her Omnitool alarm goes off.

"Morning."

She yawns and stretches, rubbing her eyes, as I hop into the shower, letting the water run over my head and wash away any residual sleepiness. As soon as I am out the bathroom Cesca claims it, leaving me to get changed into my armour.

We meet the group in the main floor at two minutes past seven, everyone else already present and armed up.

"Alright, weapon check. Last chance to take a potty break."

Everyone seems ready.

"We'll split six to a Mako. Reegar, you split up your team between two vehicles. Blizzards do the same. As for us, I'll be in the lead Mako with Ivan, Liara, Melanis, Tali and Garrus. Kaidan, you're in command of the second Mako with Ash, Legion Wrex and," her voice momentarily hitches. I doubt anyone else noticed. "Skiranta. Anyone drives off a cliff, I'll come down, haul your sorry ass out the crash and make you walk the rest of the way naked. Let's move out."

###

I didn't even have time to draw my gun before the Heretic ambush in the Mako garage was obliterated. Now we're loaded up into the Makos, heading out into the Noverian blizzard. I am in the navigator's seat next to Cesca, who's driving, with the other four in the rear compartment. Our little convoy heads up the ramp, visibility dropping almost instantly.

"How long should this journey take?"

Cesca checks the nav screen.

"Assuming nothing goes wrong we should be arriving at the base at around nine."

"A two hour drive?"

She checks the display again.

"Oh. That's nine pm."

"A fourteen hour drive. Awesome."

Out of the garage, we pass through a wide valley with grey rock and white snow towering up on either side. Cesca touches a control, shutting off our comm link to the rest of the convoy as well as the rear compartment of the vehicle. A second button locks the bulkhead behind us.

"Can we talk, Ivan?"

Oh shit.

"Yeah, of course. What about?"

"About us."

Oh shit indeed.

"What about us?"

"Where do you see us going?"

"Woah, woah. Just to clarify, you're talking about our relationship, right?"

"Yeah."

"Hoo boy. Heavy stuff for quarter past seven."

She frowns slightly and I hastily modify my demeanour.

"Why bring this up now? Is there anything in particular that made you think of this?"

She looks out at the Noverian snowscape without answering for a couple of seconds.

"It's just ... Well, we are in a relationship, right?"

"Yes. Glad you noticed."

She doesn't respond to my sarcastic joke.

"Thing is ... I've never been in a relationship before. At least, not one like this. I mean, it's not like I haven't, you know, done ... it ... with a guy ... Um, but anyway, I just ..."

"Same here."

She looks incredibly relieved to have been interrupted.

"I mean, same as you, it's not like I never ..." I pause and mentally gather myself, "had sex with a girl before, but that was always one time deals, you know? I'm as new to this whole relationship shebang as you."

There is a very awkward silence, then we both speak at the same time.

"Thing is ..."

"I just ..."

There is another pause.

"Ladies first."

She takes in a deep breath, glancing at me before returning her attention to the road.

"You probably figured this out already, but I'm not the easiest friend to have. I've got a lot of baggage, and I don't think it's fair that you have to deal with it ... With me."

Before she can go any further I interrupt her again.

"Oh no. You are not doing this. You are not pulling the self sacrifice card on me. Look, the fact is you're an amazing person. An inspiration to everyone. Even if we weren't attracted to one another I'd still want to help you deal with the stress of being the first Human Spectre. The relationship is just an unexpected but welcome bonus."

She is silent for a while.

"I ... I don't really know how to respond to that."

"So we're in agreement then. We are going to make this relationship work."

"I'd like to try."

I reach over and squeeze her shoulder.

"So."

A good five minutes pass while we each try to think of something to say. When we do, it's naturally at the same time.

"Do you think ..."

"What's your ..."

There is another pause.

"Ladies first."

"Oh no. I went first last time."

I anxiously drum my fingers on the nav screen.

"What's your favourite colour?"

She blinks, momentarily taken aback.

"Purple. Nice, rich purple. Like royalty. Yours?"

"Sky blue."

"Never would have guessed. So what's your favourite movie?"

"Umm ... I've got three."

"Go on then."

"The Matrix, Inception and Avatar. Also a big fan of the Dark Knight trilogy."

"Don't think I know any of those."

"You what? Never seen the Matrix?"

"Nope."

"Oh, we so have to fix that."

###

By the time we roll to a halt it is one pm. Cesca re-engages the comm link.

"Alright everyone. Thirty minutes to rest up, eat something."

She pulls out a pack of protein bars from a compartment under the control interface and hands me two, which I greedily tear into.

"Blueberry? Really?"

"They're my favourite."

I am hungry enough to ignore the taste as I quickly neck the protein bars, then seal my helmet on and unlock the driver compartment, heading to the back hatch of the Mako.

"I don't know about you, but I need to stretch my legs."

Garrus, Melanis and Liara hurriedly don their helmets as Cesca joins me, her face concealed once more by her Fury mask. I open the back hatch and we pile out, wincing as our muscles stretch out after so long sitting down.

"Agh shit. Sitting down all morning is hell."

Garrus chuckles and claps Melanis on the shoulder.

"I got used to it nailed to my desk back at C-sec."

I take off jogging around the parked Makos, groans and grumbles heralding the emergence of the other Mako crews. By the time the call goes out to return to our vehicles I've worked up quite a sweat.

I fold myself back into the navigator's seat and Cesca fires up the engine, taking up the head of the column again as we roll off. It's then that I see it.

"Heads up Cesca. Looks like a crashed civilian vehicle up ahead."

"Copy that."

There is silence in the Mako as we pass the wrecked vehicle. I can see three frozen bodies lying on the ground outside.

"No life signs."

There's nothing we can do.

###

It's five pm, four hours to Peak 15, when I see it on the nav screen.

"Cesca. Bridge up ahead. Long, narrow, no room to manoeuvre."

"Expecting trouble?"

"Always."

She bares her teeth and hisses as the bridge comes into view. Her face takes on ... it almost looks feral. But when she speaks her voice is calm and level.

"Garrus. Take the turret."

The cannon powers up with a reassuring hum as we come into view of the mouth of the bridge.

"Ready?"

"Hit it."

And she does. With an almighty roar the Mako charges across the bridge, cannon and machine gun blazing, the occasional whoosh sound as some of the other tanks behind us fire past us. She tags the thrusters, boosting us over the volley of rockets, then the wheels hit the ground again. By the time we reach the Geth contingent the speedometer is hovering around 120 kilometres per hour. Cesca throws the stick round, skating our rear end out and broadsiding the Geth line, barrel rolling a couple of times before the thrusters even us out. There really isn't much left for the other five.

"Oh, fuck me sideways six ways to Sunday. That was cattle-fucking terrifying!"

Cesca cackles gleefully as we resume our journey.

"Soon as we get back to the Normandy I'm having Chakwas psychoanalyse the shit out of you."

"You're welcome to try."

"Jesus fuck."

There is a thumping on the bulkhead, then a lightly accented Quarian voice.

"Shepard? Is it over?"

She calls back over her shoulder.

"No promises."

There is a long pause.

"My Pilgrimage gift is going to be a great big sign saying 'Never get in a Mako with Commander Shepard'."

"Ah, sit down, Tali."

She cuts the comm link and glances over at me.

"You know, Tali's like a little sister to me. Well, to all of us. I guess she replaced the one I lost."

I am hesitant to reply.

"Skiranta?"

"She used to be Emily."

And then without preamble she starts to tell the story of the Sole Survivor.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO

Francesca, or 'Frannie' to her family, scratched her horse's nose, then giggled as Westy nuzzled her head. Behind her, she heard the familiar low chuckling of her uncle.

"Hi, Uncle."

Alan Watson, her mother's older brother, smiled at her.

"Hey Frannie. I see Westy's quite fond of you."

She rubbed absent-mindedly at Westy's neck as she answered.

"Yeah. His mum died not long after he was born. I was pretty much his replacement mum."

Alan patted the horse's back appreciatively.

"He's gotten big. I remember when you were twelve and he was only a couple of months old you let him into the kitchen to get some apples."

She put her hands to her face.

"No, Uncle, don't ..."

Enjoying the mortified look on his niece's face, he bulled on.

"By the time we got there to pull him out he had eaten half the food in the refrigerator."

"Uncle!"

"Your dad took away your Omnitool for a month, if I recall."

"Fanny! Fanny!"

"Oh god."

Alan roared with laughter as Emily rounded the corner, holding a plastic sword. Frannie mumbled under her breath.

"I swear the more I tell her not to call me that ..."

The seven year old girl tugged on her older sister's hand and looked up at her imperiously.

"Play with me Fanny."

Sighing, Frannie dropped to her knees.

"Okay. Do you want to be a princess?"

"No!"

She blinked. That was new.

"I wanna be a soldier like Uncle Alan!"

As if to demonstrate her martial prowess, her developing biotics chose that moment to flare up, making her briefly lift off the ground before dumping her unceremoniously on her behind. She grinned up at her big sister.

"See! Soldier!"

She pointed at Frannie.

"You be the princess."

She then pointed at Alan.

"You be the monster."

She then pointed to the barn's hay loft.

"Princess! Go to prison!"

Throwing up her hands dramatically, Frannie put on a high pitched, simpering voice.

"Oh no! The monster's got me! Come save me, General Emily!"

Emily looked at her expectantly.

"You're the bravest soldier ever!"

Finally, the nod of approval. Frannie turned to climb the ladder to the hay loft as Alan waved his hands in the air and put on a gruff voice.

"Aha! I am Alan the monster, and I have captured Princess Frannie! Nobody can defeat my evil plan!"

Frannie closed the door to the hay loft and scrambled over the haystacks to Emily's favourite hiding place as she heard Emily proclaim loudly:

"I'm General Emily! I'm the biggest bestest soldier ever! Prepare to be de-feeted, evil monster!"

"Don't you mean defeated?"

"No! De-feeted!"

Frannie heard the telltale wavery hum of Emily's unpredictable biotics. Moments later:

"Agh! My foot!"

Frannie tucked herself in the corner of the haystacks and checked over her Omnitool, replying to a couple of messages then playing her music and lying back in the hay, half-listening to the epic battle being waged in the courtyard.

"Take this, monster!"

"Agh! It's just a flesh wound ... Nonono! No warp fields!"

She stopped listening to air-guitar along to the solo in her favourite song, then listened in again.

"Aha! I have you at my mercy, monster! Wait ... Who's that?"

"Oh no. Emily, I want you to run to the house right away, okay? Hide in the basement with Mummy and Daddy, lock the door. Go!"

"But Uncle ..."

"Go! Now!"

Frannie was paralysed by fear, rolling under the hay bales and curling up, putting her hands over her ears to try and block out what she heard next.

Gunfire.

A scream from Emily.

"Uncle! No!"

The familiar snap of young biotics, far more powerful than any she had heard before.

A roar of pain.

A wet squelch.

Emily screaming.

Emily suddenly stopping screaming.

Rough voices in a language she didn't understand.

Laughter.

More gunfire.

Flames.

Then nothing.

She stayed in that same position till the Alliance soldiers found her thirty seven hours later. They had to carry her down the ladder, past the rotting corpse of Westy with six bullet holes in his skull, past the tarpaulin they had draped over her uncle, past the grisly remains of the Batarian Emily had eviscerated with her biotics, past the burned out shell of the farmhouse, past the fields of machine-gunned cattle. Past everything she had known and loved, dead, desecrated. She was the only life in a dead farm, a dead planet, a dead future.

For the longest time she wondered if she was supposed to be dead as well. It would be easier.

PRESENT DAY

I reach over one arm and put it round Cesca's shoulders, my other hand on the control interface. Halfway through her story I had taken over driving. She leans her head into my shoulder and sobs, tears splashing onto the deckplate. It's six pm. Three hours until we reach the facility. I tag my comm.

"Okay, dinner break. Park up, take thirty. Grab water and protein."

I bring the Mako to a halt, watch the display as the other vehicles pull up. Then I am out of my seat, lifting Cesca out of hers and holding her tight.

"Ssh, ssh. It's okay. Get it out your system."

I rock her gently back and forth, rubbing her back as she sniffles and sobs. We stand there for a good twenty minutes before she pulls away.

"Thank you."

"What for?"

"For being there."

I lightly kiss the top of her head.

"I always will be."

She sniffs a couple of times, then sits back down, stretching out in her seat. I do the same, rewarded with the satisfying protests of joints stuck in one position for far too long.

When we get back underway, I can immediately tell Cesca seems happier.

###

It's eight fifty. Ten minutes to Peak 15. And we are confronted with another bridge. Cesca tags the comm link and calls a brief halt so we can strategise.

"Expect the heretics to be dug in heavy at the end of the bridge with a good deal of firepower. Any ideas?"

Kal'Reegar has the best one.

"My people all have thermo-regulators in our suits that can easily handle temperatures like this. I suggest we head up on foot and scout out the bridge, tell you what we see."

"Alright. Be careful."

Two Quarians leave Kal's Mako, each holding Mantis sniper rifles, and run up the incline to a small snow bank. I follow them on the Mako's heat tracker as they lie down and set up, sighting down their scopes and examining the Geth line up ahead.

"They've got several platforms armed with rocket launchers, looks like a pair of Armatures and a Colossus and a couple of Primes too. I'm seeing ... What is that? Some sort of heat shield?"

The other scout throws in his opinion.

"Probably. We know regular Geth platforms are highly susceptible to low temperatures."

Cesca leans in toward the tactical display.

"Can you take out the heat shield?"

"Think so. We'll give it a try."

Moments later we hear a dual crack of sniper rifles and a deep, resonating boom from across the bridge.

"Keelah! That thing just exploded and took out the entire Geth unit!"

"Nice! Everyone back in, we're rolling."

The two Quarian marines hopped back into their Mako and the convoy rolled onwards.

###

It's twelve minutes past nine and our unit is finally arriving at Peak 15. We dismount from our Makos and Cesca gathers us round.

"Okay. Here's how we're going to play this. Blizzard platforms, you'll stay here and man the Makos. Any hostiles pop up, blow them away. My team will head through first. Kal, I want your unit to shadow us. If we encounter anything we can't handle your team will be our reinforcements. We have no idea what we're going to find in there. Is everyone up for this?"

Grim nods all round.

"Let's go."


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: I've decided to put in some different points of view here, denoted by capital letters.

IVAN-

The garage of Peak 15 is eerily deserted as we step through, weapons drawn. The garage is in fact split into three lanes, separated by a double row of fuel canisters and diagnostic stations. Cesca quickly gathers us round.

"Ivan, take Ash, Tali and Liara to the left. Garrus, take Wrex, Legion and Skiranta to the right. Kaidan, Melanis with me, we're going up the centre."

We split off into our teams and start heading down our respective lanes.

"Ash, you're on sniper duty. Shadow us from the back. Liara, stick close to Ash, be ready with your biotics. Tali, with me."

Tali tightens her grip on her shotgun, looking around wildly at every little sound. I rest a hand on her shoulder and hit a private channel.

"Tali, you need to calm down a little. If it comes to combat I can't have you panicking."

She nods after a second or two, eyes wide behind her frosted mask. She's not the only one - the empty rooms, the eerie silence has everyone on edge. I glance behind me and see Liara rubbernecking at every little noise as well, Ash holding herself tense, her grip on her sniper rifle a little too tight.

"Everyone, ease up a little. I need your heads in the game."

To be honest I don't really know why I'm not jumpy like everyone else. Maybe it's because I know what's coming?

"Check. Kal, what's your status?"

"My unit's assembled at the mouth of the garage. We'll shadow you one room behind."

"Motion, twelve o clock!"

At Kaidan's warning we stop and snap up our weapons, straining our eyes to try and catch a glimpse of whatever Kaidan saw in the gloom of the garage.

"What was it?"

"I ... I'm not sure."

There is another long pause.

"Keep moving. Eyes open."

At Cesca's order we start picking our way down the lane again, even more tense than before.

"There's something else."

Skiranta's voice, when she isn't shrieking in rage, has a strangely sibilant quality to it that sets me on edge.

"I sense it. Something big. It thinks, but differently, like a child."

And I can add 'annoyingly cryptic' to my long list of reasons not to trust Cesca's crazy sister.

"Any idea where it is?"

"No."

Garrus taps his comm.

"Commander, can I recommend we rendezvous with some haste?"

"You certainly can. Alright everyone, double time to the end of the garage."

Suddenly I have a very bad feeling. I glance behind me, past Ash and Liara, to see a double row of glowing blue lights behind them. As I watch the lights shift, seeming to slowly approach us. Ah shit ...

An ear splitting shriek cuts through the icy air.

"Contact six! Ash, Liara, move!"

The two of them don't look back, just start running as our very first Rachni stumbles into the pool of light cast from our armour's lamps. The creature seems to scuttle towards us, then stop, then scuttle again. I take aim with my Mattock, but something makes me stop. The Rachni isn't attacking. It stops about ten metres away, just looking at me. And good God is it enormous. The thing must be three and a half metres tall.

Tali, Liara and Ash are about ten metres behind me, staring at the Rachni as I hear the other teams approaching us. I just keep staring, the Rachni staring back. I take one step forwards and it takes a step forwards as well. I take another step and the Rachni steps with me, closing the distance to just five metres. Over the comm channel I hear Cesca hiss at everyone to stay silent and lower their weapons. The Rachni takes two more steps forward and reaches out with one of its long, clawed limbs, brushing it against my chestplate.

-You have a song-crystal-

The hell?

-Who are you?-

I clear my throat.

"I am Ivan."

-Ivan? What is an Ivan?-

"Ivan is my name. I am a Human."

-Ivan is your song?-

"Um ... I'm going to go with yes. What is your song?"

-I have no song. I was taken from Queen before my song could be written-

"What is a song crystal?"

-You have one. The crystals are the source of our songs of strength. We can sing to the fates, learn the melodies of the universe. The crystals also protect from souring darksongs-

"The pendant?"

-That is what you sing it?-

"Yes."

The Rachni suddenly looks up and around.

-Machine-singers! They come!-

I do some quick thinking.

"Heretics inbound!"

Everyone immediately jumps to action, ducking into cover and readying their weapons. All except Wrex, who crouches, shotgun pointed at the Rachni.

The Geth hit us moments later, volleys of pulse rifle fire flying at the Rachni, who presses itself into the ground, chittering in fear. We respond with a wall of bullets, tech and biotics, ripping through the Geth platoon. I turn back to the Rachni.

"Thanks for the warning ..."

I trail off as I see black ichor pooling beneath the motionless body. A quick examination shows that it was hit by at least thirty rounds from Geth pulse rifles.

"Dammit!"

Cesca comes up to me and rests a hand on the corpse.

"What is that?"

"That's a Rachni."

Everyone turns to look at Wrex.

"My species paid in blood to exterminate them the first time. If they're here we have to destroy them."

"No!"

Now all eyes are on me.

"I spoke with it. It wasn't hostile. It was scared. Benezia is doing something to them, something we need to stop. We have to free them!"

Before I can blink I'm staring down the barrel of Wrex's shotgun.

"Are you insane! The Rachni must be destroyed!"

In response I unlatch my chestplate and pull out my pendant.

"It's time I told you all something about me. I have no biotic amp, no element zero nodules in my body. I had no biotic abilities until three days before I boarded the Normandy. This crystal somehow gave me biotic powers. It's a Rachni artefact called a song crystal. So if it wasn't for the Rachni I'd still be sitting pretty on Earth and Tali would be dead."

Everyone is staring at me after that revelation. Garrus is the first to speak.

"How does a crystal give you biotic powers?"

I shrug helplessly.

"Hell if I know. For all I know I could have Rachni DNA now."

Cesca blinks at me a couple of times, then waves her rifle.

"When we get back to the Normandy you and me are going to have a sit down and play twenty questions. But not here. We need to move, find Benezia."

With a good deal of suspicious glances at me, the team form up again. I seal up my chestplate and head out with the rest of them.

"Alright. Kal, we're heading into the facility now. Bring your team up."

As we stack up by the door I start to hear something, like a buzzing on the edge of my mind. Shaking my head, I push it out of my thoughts and focus on the door.

As we push in, Garrus and Cesca are the first through the door.

"Why are the turrets facing the wrong way?"

"Probably trying to keep the Rachni in."

We move through the doors and into the elevators. I squeeze into one with my 'squad', Ash, Tali and Liara. As we ascend, Ash looks at me with a confused expression.

"What?"

"Stop humming."

"I'm not."

Tali interjects.

"You are. It's a very strange melody too."

"Huh. Okay."

A few seconds pass.

"Ivan, you're doing it again."

"Sorry."

The elevator arrives at the upper level and we pile out, the others coming out the adjacent elevators. As soon as I leave the elevator I start hearing the sound again. This time I can discern it slightly better.

"Can anyone else hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That music."

"Ivan, I can't hear anything."

I frown and start following the sound, removing my helmet and clipping it to my belt to get a clearer sound, dimly aware of the others trailing me, protesting. I tune them out, focusing on the sound.

I emerge into a wide open area, immediately striding through to seek out the sound. I become aware of certain itches in the room, niggling sensations that just don't feel right. Reaching out my hand, I feel power I didn't even realise I possess flowing through my body and out, creating a blinding purple flash and a roiling sphere of pure biotic energy on each of the itches. Rachni workers and soldiers are pulled from their hiding places into the warp storms, shredded by the purple energy.

"Dissonances, all. Sing sorrow for their passing but they are beyond help. Silencing their dissonant songs is a kindness."

It takes me a moment to realise I said that. When I do, I am momentarily taken aback, but I continue my blind, headlong charge through the facility.

CESCA-

Now I'm seriously worried. Seeing Ivan channeling that amount of biotic power - it should have killed him.

Ivan is a difficult person to get a handle on. Every time I think I have him figured out, he throws me another curveball. I can't reconcile the kindness he shows, helping me deal with my nightmares, with the callous, casual brutality he can sometimes show on the battlefield. He's kind, compassionate, understanding, yet he can kill with no remorse, regrets or second thoughts. Oh, and he's a time traveller too. The latest in a long list of ways Ivan inadvertently fucks with my head is this Rachni crystal thing. And now he's gone crazy and superbiotic.

"Dissonances, all. Sing sorrow for their passing but they are beyond help. Silencing their dissonant songs is a kindness."

I only now notice the pulpy shreds of flesh whipping around those biotic spheres he has created. He's slaughtering Rachni? But only moments ago he looked ready to attack Wrex for even suggesting it! And what the hell is he on about with dissonances?

He flicks his wrist and a writhing snake of purple energy springs out of it, wrapping around the guard rail for the catwalk on one end of the room. Yanking his hand back, he rips the whole thing off, catching it as it whips toward him and bringing it round to smash down on another Rachni. Of the ten of us trailing in his wake, Wrex seems to be the only one happy with this turn of events.

He springs up onto the catwalk, drawing his sword and encasing it in purple energy before slicing through a wall, cutting a doorway and then doing that energy beam thing again, catapulting the chunk of wall across the room. I run up the stairs, peering into the room to see ...

"Mother!"

Liara pushes past me, kneeling down beside the Asari woman slumped against the wall. Wait ... Is that Benezia?

I can see the family resemblance quite clearly now. Benezia looks a lot like an older version of Liara, maybe in her late thirties, at least if she were human. She's quite beautiful, in a kind of older woman way, wearing a white shirt soaked with purple Asari blood, a pair of skintight black trousers and black boots. Her eyes are half open and as I watch her head turns to her daughter.

"Li ... Liara ..."

Ivan just stands there, watching, as Liara desperately applies medigel to the numerous pulse round wounds in her mother's midsection.

"Queensong sustains her life-song for now."

Ivan speaks in an oddly sing-song voice that mixes with his faint Russian accent in interesting ways. I'm sure that if we weren't in the field I'd be getting turned on by the sound of it but right now I have more pressing concerns. Seemingly strengthened by the medigel, Benezia reaches up to take Liara's hand.

"Liara, I'm so proud of you. So proud ..."

"Mother! Why are you with Saren?"

She pauses to cough violently, flecks of violet blood passing her lips.

"I thought ... I, along with a handpicked group of my commandoes, joined Saren's operation hoping to sabotage it, work against Saren from the inside and pass details of his plots to the Council. But his ship ..."

She coughed again, causing Liara to whimper slightly and apply more medigel. Everyone else is gathered round the door, watching.

"His ship is the key. Saren is not the master here, just a puppet of the true enemy. Sovereign is the name of the AI Saren serves. It has the power to take away the will of anyone who spends too much time aboard, indoctrinate them to hang on Saren's lies like a lifeline. I was only protected from its influence by an artefact ..."

She pauses and groans in pain as she lifts a hand to her neck, reaching under her blood soaked shirt to pull out a crystal pendant identical to the one Ivan wears.

"This shielded my mind from its poisonous influence. Sovereign discovered I was resistant to its instruction and Saren ordered his Geth to kill me. They wounded me but were swarmed by Rachni before they could finish the job."

Ivan bends down and looks directly in her eyes.

"You hear her song?"

Benezia's hand closes over her pendant.

"Yes. I hear ..."

Her body is once again wracked with explosive coughs.

"Please ... I don't want to die. I don't want to leave my Liara all alone."

Liara starts sobbing, her arms around her mother. Ivan tilts his head to one side.

"There's a medical facility in Rift Station where the Rachni Queen is. Get her there, she'll make it."

He turns to look at me.

"So. What'd I miss?"

I blink at him a couple of times.

"You went crazy and started throwing round some ridiculous biotics."

"Ah yes. That was the Queensong. She'd never sung to a Human before so she needed time to adapt."

"The hell is Queensong?"

"It's tough to explain. Basically as well as their own biotics Rachni warriors can act as conduits for the Queen's biotic abilities, which are seven kinds of terrifying, and hear messages from other Rachni warriors. Turns out that since I have a song crystal I can tap into the Queensong, and at the moment it's the only thing keeping Benezia alive."

"This is just getting weirder and weirder."

"Believe me, I know. There's several Rachni soldiers in the next room along. We'll need to take them out."

"Why?"

"They hatched away from the queen. Without her guidance they are feral, insane. They'll attack anything on sight. There's really no way to save them."

Crushing down my confusion I take command of my team again.

"Kaidan, Garrus, make a stretcher and get ready to move Benezia. Liara, Melanis, Legion stay with her. Wrex, Skiranta on me, Tali and Ash with Ivan. Let's hustle, people!"

It turns out the other ten of us are quite superfluous next to the raw destructive biotic power flowing through my unofficial boyfriend. What looks like purple arcs of lightening leap from his hands, twisting the insane Rachni into horrible configurations with the sickening crunching of cracking carapace and agonised animal shrieks. By the time we reach the VI core the room is a twisted ruin, the rubble glowing faintly purple from the residual energy. As Tali descends into the core to boot up the damnable VI again I catch sight of Ivan keeling over, purple flickering over his body erratically.

"Ivan!"

IVAN-

My head burns. My arms and legs are made of water and every breath sends needles stabbing through my chest. I dimly hear Cesca's cry as my abused body finally gives up the ghost, overwhelmed by the power I was channelling. Blackness swells in front of my eyes and for a moment I am blissfully unaware.

When I regain consciousness I can feel a hand threaded through mine. Glancing up, I see Cesca sitting beside me, looking lost and helpless.

"Hey pretty girl."

She looks at me and I can see the worry in her eyes.

"What happened? Are you ..."

I groan as my head chooses that moment to remind me of its displeasure.

"Queensong got a bit much for me. I'll be okay in a moment."

She smiles, and it's like her entire face lights up.

"Glad to hear it. I didn't fancy clearing out this place while having to drag your sorry ass around."

"What's going on?"

I groan as Cesca helps me into a sitting position.

"Ash, Tali, Mel and Garrus are taking care of the reactor, and Wrex, Skiranta, Kaidan and Legion are sorting out the landlines. Liara's just over there with Benezia and I'm here keeping an eye on you."

"Lovely to know you care."

She chuckles, then her face grows somber.

"You scared me back there."

I squeeze her hand and smile up at her.

"I guess I'll have to find some way to make it up to you."

I flash her the most cartoonishly lecherous grin I can manage given my current state. She swats at my arm, chuckling.

"You men are always thinking with your downstairs brains."

"I once knew a guy who asked his surgeon to jack an L3 amp in his nutsack."

After about three seconds of steadily building mirth we are both in hysterics, making Liara look over in consternation.

"Commander, landlines secure."

Moments later:

"Reactor back up, Commander."

I pick myself up as the team reassembles, then we push into the next room, ready to head for the tram. I flare my biotics in anticipation. Or at least, I try to.

"Cesca! My biotics aren't working!"

She curses under her breath as I pull out my rifle, just in time to join in blitzing the Rachni popping out of the floor. She frowns at me.

"Are you okay?"

I nod. It's surprising how quickly I came to rely on my biotics. Without them I feel kind of useless.

"I'm okay. I've still got my guns and my Omnitool. Let's get moving."

But inside I'm worried. Without my biotics ... Let's just say I'm suddenly feeling less confident about facing down those Asari commandoes.


	22. Chapter 22

CESCA-

"Move!"

I shoulder aside two of the guards at the barricade as Garrus and Melanis hurry after me, carrying the stretcher containing Benezia. On the tram ride over she started coughing up a good deal of blood. We need to get her to the medical facility now.

I glance behind at the sound of gunfire to see the insane Rachni are well in hand, with Wrex, Skiranta, Legion, Ash and Kaidan staying behind to reinforce Captain Ventralis's barricade. Ivan, Liara and Tali are accompanying the stretcher with me. On the way Ivan notices something and glances off to the side. Without pausing he pulls out his pistol and fires the heavy caliber barrel at an Asari sitting on a crate, the round tearing through the small of her back. I angrily round on him.

"What the fuck, Ivan!"

"She was indoctrinated. I can tell, or perhaps more correctly the Queen can tell."

I can't believe him!

"You can't just go around shooting people like that!"

"Her name was Alestia Ialessa. She would have fought us like a coward, trying to isolate us then pick us off one by one." His voice softens somewhat. "Cesca, you know me. I wouldn't just execute somebody without a good reason. I know our methods are sometimes different but my only aim is to protect the people I care about."

I'm still not happy.

"You and I are going to have a very long chat back on the Normandy."

I am just fast enough to catch the faint flicker of trepidation in his eyes before he rebuffs me with his customary sarcastic bravado.

"I look forward to it. But for now, we have bigger problems."

With a last look at the dead Asari, I head after the others to the medical station.

BENEZIA-

I grip my daughter's hand as the doctor probes at my wounds, the soothing Queensong not quite masking the dull throbbing of the bullet holes in my abdomen. Liara is trying to hold back tears, I can tell. She never could hide her feelings well. I squeeze her hand and try to smile through the pain.

"Don't worry, little wing. I am in good hands."

"Mother? Why haven't we spoken in so long?"

I glance down and grunt in pain as a needle jabs into my stomach. Moments later the area goes blissfully numb. I look away to avoid watching the doctor picking bullets out of my midsection.

"I was always too busy, and you were absorbed in your studies. I will always regret not making more time for us. Should we both make it off this planet, I would like for us to talk."

She smiles as a stray tear slides down her face.

"I would like that very much."

IVAN-

I pace round the room outside the medbay, pistol in hand, listening. Every Rachni in the facility, I can hear. The lost children as mere tuneless blurs of noise, the Queen as a rich orchestral symphony. Each song is unique, distinct. Beautiful. I am truly saddened by what these torturers have done to the Rachni.

-Sing peace-songs, little one.-

I smile involuntarily, soothed by the Queen's voice.

-It is hard to sing peace to these pain-singers.-

-The song has great importance. They may yet sing harm-songs to you and your mate if you sing threat-songs.-

I pause for a moment as a thought strikes me.

-When you leave this place, what will you sing?-

-We will sing hiding-songs to the galaxy. We do not wish to sing war.-

-Why?-

-Should we find those who wronged our mothers, we will sing justice-songs to them. But their songs have long since ended. Punishing the child for the crimes of the dead parent brings no joy-songs.-

-What if the Rachni could live among the other species again?-

-Then our hive would sing songs of rejoicing. But we cannot. The other singers are less able to sing forgiveness than we. They would sing death-songs to the children.-

-Perhaps.-

I look back round as Cesca emerges from the medbay.

"Liara and Melanis are keeping Benezia safe. I need you to use your cloak and other abilities to get into the facility and find the Queen."

I nod, acknowledging her instruction.

"Once I find her?"

"Guide the rest of the team to her. Then we'll decide. I've got to head down to the hot labs and take out some insane Rachni."

I put a cautioning hand on her shoulder.

"Cesca, be careful. I don't trust Ventralis not to try something. One of my feelings."

Without another word, she pushes past me. I can tell she's mad at me for nipping that Asari in the bud but I couldn't help myself. The dark energies of indoctrination had swirled thick and repulsive around her.

I activate my cloak, slipping into the maintenance section of the base. It doesn't take me long to find the central chamber where the Rachni Queen is holed up.

-It is good to see you, little one.-

I smile as I tap away at the console, deactivating the biotic inhibitors and opening the tank. The Queen scuttles out and turns to face me. She is enormous, at least five times the height of Wrex, her exoskeleton a rich purple colour as opposed to the brown of the other Rachni.

-Freedom-songs sung at last. Thank you, little one.-

-Come. Let us return to the others. They will wish to meet you.-

CESCA-

I pace impatiently around the dormitory, waiting for Ivan's call. I can't believe him! He just blew that Asari away in cold blood! I can't deny my feelings for him, not his kindness or loyalty to me but sometimes he makes me wonder if my love is misplaced.

Love. I hadn't considered it as such before now. I had just called it 'feelings'. But that's what it is. I can't put my finger on it. Wrex is a better fighter, Kaidan is better looking, Joker is funnier yet there's something about him I can't resist. Sooner or later I'm going to have to tell him about Endola. I wonder if he'll still ... want me ... after he learns about that.

I am so distracted by my thoughts about Ivan, I don't hear the grate in the ceiling sliding back until the dart buries itself in my neck. I have just enough strength to curse my inattentiveness before I slip into unconsciousness.

IVAN-

When I get back to the central barricade I can tell shit's gone down bigtime. Captain Ventralis and his men are decorating the floor, walls and ceiling with their innards and the civilians are tied up and unceremoniously stacked in a corner. The Normandy crew are pacing around anxiously, conferring amongst themselves.

"What the hell happened here?"

There is a tense moment when the crew look up at the Rachni Queen, but when I lay a hand on her carapace they subside, if somewhat reluctantly for Wrex's part.

"I say again, what happened?"

Garrus is the bearer of bad news.

"Ventralis's men attacked us. We finished them but ... Shepard's missing. We can't find her or raise her on comms and we found this in one of the side rooms."

He holds up a small, pointed object.

"It's a potent knockout dart."

It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together.

-I know where they are taking her.-

I frown as I turn to the Rachni queen.

-What?-

-I have heard the cold-song Asari sing of it, a place they would send anyone who challenged them for vengeance. A place called Virmire.-

My fists clench very, very tight.

"Pack up everything and call the Normandy for pickup. We need to be gone yesterday."

CESCA-

I wake up groggily to find myself strapped to a table, naked. Panic instantly wells up as I try to buck against the immobilising restraints, aware of Asari in lab coats marking my body with what looks like a Sharpie. I try to talk, only to find a gag in my mouth.

A needle is injected into my arm, then a scanner is run across my prone body as I listen to the Asari speak.

"Hmm ... Good material, I think. Perform the implantation procedures to test functionality then terminate the subject."

Another one looks at me dispassionately as she continues to mark my body despite my struggles. The metal bands across my body have almost completely immobilised me, leaving me unable to move at all. They inject a couple more things, take some blood samples and analyse them. At one point a Krogan briefly enters, exchanging a couple of words with the Asari before leaving.

Time starts to blur. At one point one of the doctors approaches me with a set of electric clippers. I try to struggle but the restraints make it a futile endeavour. I don't give her the satisfaction of seeing my distress, maintaining a stony poker face as she shaves my head, marking my scalp with her damnable pen. Then come the incisions. For those they inject a paralytic, forcing a tube down my throat to ensure air still flows in and out of my lungs as they start to cut. Everywhere the pen has been the scalpel follows, the pain excruciating as they slide things under my skin and muscles, into my bones and brain. At one point they flip me over and cut into my back, shafts of fire spearing into my spine. They remove something completely at one point, although I can't be certain I have a feeling they were my ovaries. I've given up on stoicism by this point, tears dripping onto the floor. My only wish is for Ivan to come save me. Failing that, for me to die soon.

I don't know how long it's been when Saren enters the room, looking at me with savage joy. I'm back on my back by now and he takes great enjoyment in holding up a mirror to my face. I am horrified by my once beautiful body marred with thick, open scars through which the glow of orange cybernetics can be seen.

"Well well, Commander Shepard. Your body seems to have taken quite nicely to the implants. You know, I designed some of them myself. I'll be sure to keep you alive long enough to see the fruits of your labours."

He runs a hand over my body, making me want to scream.

"You see, I was trying to think of a fitting punishment for the one who has caused me so much trouble, and I had an idea. Why not let her live just long enough to see me destroy her name completely?"

My fear intensifies, something I didn't think was possible.

"My servants have removed your ovaries. We're going to use your eggs to create an army of cybernetically enhanced Francesca Shepards and unleash them upon the galaxy. They will be a useful tool for the Reapers. By the time we're done the name Shepard will be the most hated name in all of creation."

And with that he left. I wish I was dead.

###

A/N: Sorry for the horrendously long wait. I was reviewing all my previous stories and remembered all the ideas I had for this story. Suffice to say, shit's going down on Virmire.


End file.
